On Septecber 11, 2013, a huge storm hit Islesboro and brought down over 2000 trees on the island.
We lost several including a large poplar tree that totalled our 1998 Honda.
What was left of the Honda. (It was salvaged with a new windshield, and we still drive it; it still has visible dents, but it runs fine. Makes for a good "island beater")
After sitting in the woods for a year (August, 2014), I decided to try milling the tree trunk into planks. My friend Preston has an Alaska Chainsaw Mill and so …
we dicided to give it a try:
We milled the log into planks about 2 1/2" thick
John Kauer pitched in too:
The planks were stacked and stickered:
and allowed to season for a couple of years.
After a couple of years, every plank had split right down the middle of the pith, So I chainsaw ripped each plank into two boards, and then in 2018, I proceeded to resaw those lengthwise into 1 1/2" boards on the band saw to give me a bunch of book-matched, very rough boards of varying random thickness (+/-1/4")
The 2×4 was attached to give me a reference to the bandsaw table to keep the planks upright.
After another year – in 2018, I jointed the boards by hand with No. 5 and No. 4 hand planes. Then I glued up the book matched boards and hand planed them flat with the No. 5 mostly and also flattened with a number 7 Lie-Neilson jointer plane (What a beauty that thing is).
The top of the desk is about 60" by 27"and is made up of two pairs of bookmathed sections with an added natural edge board for the front side.
After cutting the top to length, 3 coats of boiled linseed oil followed by 5-6 coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal satin poly urethane applied with a rag.
I discoved that I had an old table whose legs I could cannibalize. So I proceeded to dismantle the entire leg assembly and glue it all back together with epoxy.
After 3 coats of boiled linseed oil
After 6 coats of hand wiped General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Oil-poly Varnish
