Ideas for big piece of wood

[hogiewan]

A guy I work with is giving me a 4"x6"x5' piece of pine that was part of his dad's old fireplace mantle. I couldn't pass it up, but I have no clue what to do with it. Any ideas?
btw - I haven't seen it yet and I'll probably get my hands on it tomorrow.

[cnsranch]

Whatever you do with it, you gotta make sure it's straight, sides parallel to one another, no twists, etc.

I had a plan to place a carve on a new mailbox post I built, as you can imagine, 4x4 posts tend to have a little twist in them, the machine would not allow me to use it.

If you haven't got access to a planer/jointer and a good table saw, you're in for it.

But, if you do, you have a great piece to work with.

[hogiewan]

Whatever you do with it, you gotta make sure it's straight, sides parallel to one another, no twists, etc.

I had a plan to place a carve on a new mailbox post I built, as you can imagine, 4x4 posts tend to have a little twist in them, the machine would not allow me to use it.

If you haven't got access to a planer/jointer and a good table saw, you're in for it.

But, if you do, you have a great piece to work with.

All I have is a hand planer (electric), but I have use of a nice table saw

[bjbethke]

All I have is a hand planer (electric), but I have use of a nice table saw
It would be easy to make carving boards from that cant with a band saw, but since you only have a table saw you could rip them into 4 inch wide boards and edge joint the boards to make a nice carving board. You could make a Jig for your Electric Hand Planer and make your carving board flat and clean up the edges for good glue joints. Check for nails and stones in the used lumber it is hard on the blades.

[shotgun 6]

If you have a pallet or saw mill in your vicinity they might do it for you. Check yellow pages for them, especially someone who has a Woddmizer sawmill. On the Woodmizer you lcan go to their home page and find the closest owner to you. I used to have one and it's perfect fgor your job.

Bill

[hogiewan]

I don't want to cut it into boards. I'd like to do something with the whole piece - maybe carve something into one or both sides.

The whole idea is that thick slabs aren't always easy to get.

[bjbethke]

I don't want to cut it into boards. I'd like to do something with the whole piece - maybe carve something into one or both sides.

The whole idea is that thick slabs aren't always easy to get.
I am cutting that size most of the time. I just received 7 logs these are about 9 foot long, my track is 16 foot and I can cut a 12 foot log, and my little Mill will cut a 16 inch diameter log. I am getting $1.00 per sq foot for pine, and $2.00 per sq foot for cedar. A 4x6 five foot long would cost $10.00 in pine. These are my best sellers. They are Poll Barn Posts.

[mtylerfl]

I don't want to cut it into boards. I'd like to do something with the whole piece - maybe carve something into one or both sides.

The whole idea is that thick slabs aren't always easy to get.

Hello,

I guess I would probably consider making another mantle with it, incorporating a decorative design of some kind.

Something to keep in mind is the weight of the piece...the machine has a 20lb. weight limit. Mentioning it, just in case you might want to check how much the stock weighs.

Even if it weighs less than the 20lbs, any 5ft long piece requires additional outfeed support (even for 1x lumber) as I'm sure you already know! Your stock will need a little extra care and attention (due to the weight) to make sure gravity doesn't foul up the tracking through the machine when carving nearer to either of the ends.

[mtylerfl]

...

I had a plan to place a carve on a new mailbox post I built, as you can imagine, 4x4 posts tend to have a little twist in them, the machine would not allow me to use it...

Hi Jerry,

I'm sure you've seen this technique before...you can fasten four 1x4's in such a way to 'simulate' your 4x4 post. That way, you can carve the 1x4 lumber components, then put it all together to form your 'post' after-the-fact. Here's an end-view illustration of the 'typical' assembly, but you could modify that if necessary...

[BBrooks]

A guy I work with is giving me a 4"x6"x5' piece of pine that was part of his dad's old fireplace mantle. I couldn't pass it up, but I have no clue what to do with it. Any ideas?
btw - I haven't seen it yet and I'll probably get my hands on it tomorrow.

In addition to all of the preceeding thoughts, you could build a jig to hold the post, albeit a heavy prospect for your CW, so even if the post is not perfectly square, the jig would be and you could carve on the post, one, two or all sides. I've spent hours builiding jigs for projects over the years that took longer than the project itself but it got done what I wanted. Woodworking is a hobby for me so I can afford that extra time and effort to achieve my desired result.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll waste a weekend drinking beer and catching no damn fish at all but he is one happy sumbitch. :)

[Router-Jim]

You could consider carving the front and using it as a suspended shelf.

FWIW the machine is capable of jointing boards. Having a nice jointer I have never had need to use that function.

[DocWheeler]

A guy I work with is giving me a 4"x6"x5' piece of pine that was part of his dad's old fireplace mantle. I couldn't pass it up, but I have no clue what to do with it. Any ideas?
btw - I haven't seen it yet and I'll probably get my hands on it tomorrow.

I let this rattle around in my head for awhile and a couple of things appealed to me.

1) another mantle as others have said.

2) a beam over a doorway or across an entry with carvings (suspended at the ends and bridging the opening, fastened to the wall, or fastened to the ceiling depending on your preference and the building).

3) a "header" above a quilt attached to the wall (with carvings of course).

[AskBud]

There is also the option of making a set of Corbels to suspend the new piece where ever you would like. There is a Tip & Trick on Corbel's.
AskBud

[Eagle Hollow]

A guy I work with is giving me a 4"x6"x5' piece of pine that was part of his dad's old fireplace mantle. I couldn't pass it up, but I have no clue what to do with it. Any ideas?
btw - I haven't seen it yet and I'll probably get my hands on it tomorrow.

I would have to do something with that piece on the lathe. The remainder would render itself to four sided vertical carvings...maybe a lamp base.

Be sure to keep us posted on what you do with it. Good Luck!

[hogiewan]

You could consider carving the front and using it as a suspended shelf.

FWIW the machine is capable of jointing boards. Having a nice jointer I have never had need to use that function.

I use that function too - works great and I love it. However, the 3/8 bit will only cut 1 inch, while this thing is 4 inches thick.

The suspended shelf sounds like a great idea. I don't know that I have room for it in my house, but I like that idea