Hey ya'll,
I'm new to the forum. Sorry if this topic has already
been talked about. My husband and I recently purchased
property with a small pine forest. We need to clear
out a significant amount of the pine. Seems like a
waste to just burn it for fire wood. There's enough
other wood for that. My question is....how do we
cure the pine and are there any good books or video's
on the subject? I think a trellis with built in
seating and a gate for the front of the property
would be nice and maybe some out door seating and
tables for when we have BBQ's and family functions.
Any one have any experience with log furniture?
Thanks in advance for any help.
I know there are some books out about it, probably pretty easy to find one on Ebay. I'm not a big fan of pine for Rustic furniture, but many are. (I prefer oak, hickory, etc.) As for curing it, for rustic furniture it's a simple of matter of just putting it in a relatively cool dry location where some air will circulate. Even up in the raters of a pole barn is a good spot!
You'll want to leave your 'sticks' at least a foot longer than you guess you'll need, so you can cut off the ends later on. Sounds like you have plenty, so I wouldn't bother with waxing the end cuts and such. You'll want to harvest when the sap is down too, I believe.
I believe Rockler sells some tenon-cutting apparatus, both one you can use in a regular drill, and one that works with a router. If you have maple on your property, consider that. I like hickory because harvested in the winter, you can do some "bark on" furniture with it without the bark flaking off. Bark HAS to be removed from pine, also.
I know of a great site that sells specialty lumber products such as wood slabs. They have walnut, maple, chestnut and sycamore to name a few. Specialty-Lumber
