How to keep the bark on?

[hawkeye10]

My nice want me to make her some coasters for her to sell. I had these slices of Bodoc laying in the shop and when she saw them she said they would be a great seller. I was going to make some type of scroll saw project out of them and I still plan to. My question is how to keep the bark from flaking and coming off?

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I found that harvesting maple branches for "tree slices" holds Tha bark pretty well if cut in dead of winter and allowed to dry for six months in the barn. Then at least six months later, I cut the slices. I don't get those nasty splits either.

[zimmerstutzen]

Btw, what's bodoc

[hawkeye10]

I found that harvesting maple branches for "tree slices" holds Tha bark pretty well if cut in dead of winter and allowed to dry for six months in the barn. Then at least six months later, I cut the slices. I don't get those nasty splits either.

My nice likes the splits.She says it adds to it and makes it look more rustic. 

[hawkeye10]

Btw, what's bodoc

Some people call them Hedge Apple trees and I think Iron Wood trees. It depends on what part of the country your in and who your talking to.

 

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=bodock%20tree

[zimmerstutzen]

Round these pasts it is Osage orange or monkey balls. Heard it called hedge apple but never bodoc.

[Lucky2]

Don, there is no way to stop the bark from flaking, it's just a natural thing that happens to bark. The flaking is usually just the top layers of the bark, the layers that had to contend with the weather. To keep the main bark ring from coming loose, what most people will do, is they use thin ca glue and glue all around the edge of the bark and wood. This is how you keep the bark from falling off of turned items, I don't see why it wouldn't work on scrolled projects.

Len

[WayneMahler]

Always wondered about this. 

[lawson56]

Same here.I learned something things this morning.

[zimmerstutzen]

I suspect that the bark holds better when the wood is cut in winter when the sap is flowing the least.  There is less moisture in the wood to begin with.  I cut the maple during a cold spell in Late December or January.   I noticed that when the same maple is cut in May, after months of drying, the bark has begun to pull away from the wood.     I have been cutting my slices on the table saw, but it is hard to get uniform thicknesses and not have the piece scored up between the fence and the blade.  So I have been cutting without the fence.  Using a new 80 tooth carbide blade, the slices are pretty smooth.  But I can only slice up to about 3.75 inch pieces on my ten inch table saw.    I looked into a miter saw, but can't cut slices as large on the 10 inch miter saw as I can on the 10 inch table saw.

 

The slices can be made into ornaments.  We let kids decorate them with rubber stamps and markers.   Some we scroll saw, some get pictures with a wood burning pencil, etc.  Then we use a rustic twine like jute to attach a loop for hanging.  the ornament.  My Lion's club started selling the slices last December and sold several dozen blanks during a 3 hour wreath sale.  This year the sale is expanded and we already have inquiries from people who want to buy them by the dozen.  I have about 200 cut so far, about 3/16 inch thick.   We also sold about 40 larger slices.  around 9 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick. Just rough cut with the chain saw.  Not sure what folks do with them.   

 

As for the smaller slices, we will also be offerring them as coasters, Thanks for the idea.

[Jim Finn]

Bois'darc (French for "Wood of the bow") is a very hard wood. Pronounced "Bow-dark" here in west Texas.  I have used it a lot as a yellow inlay. 

 

     I have access to, "bark on," pecan and plan to make a band saw box using it.  I had planned on using lots of poly over the whole thing to try to keep the bark in place.  Will this not work?

[Lucky2]

Bois'darc (French for "Wood of the bow") is a very hard wood. Pronounced "Bow-dark" here in west Texas.  I have used it a lot as a yellow inlay. 

 

     I have access to, "bark on," pecan and plan to make a band saw box using it.  I had planned on using lots of poly over the whole thing to try to keep the bark in place.  Will this not work?

Jim, it could and possibly would work fine, but, I know for a fact that it will stay in place if you glue around the edges with thin CA glue. In the area that I live, the bark usually stays on the wood, if the tree was cut during the winter months. I don't know how things work in your area, I have no idea of when the prime time to cut a tree would be. If you asked a forestry officer from your area, they could probably let you know when is the best time to cut a tree to hold the bark.

 

Len 

Edited October 17, 2016 by Lucky2

[Jim Finn]

My  plan is to make a band saw box using a 6"-8"  log 8" long with the bark still on it..  Not a slice of a log.  This is why I am thinking of covering the whole log with poly.  The Pecan tree has aready been cut so I have no control over that.

[amazingkevin]

Wow