Woodworking Projects – Unique Birch End Table


My next woodworking project: I always wanted to do something with burled wood. I very rarely get my hands on it. This large Birch stump had one large burl and several smaller ones on it. Instead of cutting them out and discarding the rest of the log, I wanted to integrate them all in one object. The stump itself has many interesting cavities and depressions in it, so I felt it would do the tree injustice if I only took the burls. The wood has tons of beautiful features, like black lines from spalting, green and red spots from other fungi, brown streaks from pieces of cambium, leftover pieces of bark and the chaotic burl grain. When I applied the first coat of oil, my jaw dropped to the floor, I never could have dreamed it would look this good (you can see that later on in the vid) This table was made in Hortus Haren, Netherlands. Useful websites: www.saburr-tooth.com EU, UK, NL website for ordering Saburr-Tooth equipment: www.chainsawcarvingtools.eu Main dutch Chainsaw Carving forum: www.carvingtoolshop.eu WoodCarving Illustrated message board: www.woodcarvingillustrated.com My WCI Gallery: tinyurl.com

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25 Responses to “Woodworking Projects – Unique Birch End Table”

  1. stubbywebb says:

    amazing.. you ever thought about wood burning with this? i do wood burning. and you are giving me some killer ideas! if you like, look up genreofstubby.us to check out some of my work. i would love to work with you on this. amazing! :)

  2. sween187 says:

    Thats a very nice piece there, keep up the good work

  3. duff835 says:

    @oxfordmoon Well best of luck, I live in Poland Maine, I’m 17 and just started woodworking a little over a year now. I do a large amount of lathing but have starting doing some other kinds of projects, its expensive to get into but if what you make looks nice you will make a little money selling it.

  4. oxfordmoon says:

    @duff835 , I am in beautiful Raymond, Maine. I haven’t started this type of work, but I am setting up……but I have a long way to go…….meanwhile my trees are getting bigger…thanks for asking.

  5. duff835 says:

    @oxfordmoon Haha I live in Maine and been doing this kinda work. Were in Maine do you live?

  6. Mueiwark says:

    @oxfordmoon Thank you, and observative! Getting the center piece out took some time. After the plunging I made more cuts, only this time in triangular patterns so I was able to remove the core in pieces:
    …/
    ..//
    .///.
    ////
    If the above doesn’t really help, I’ll try again to explain ;)

  7. oxfordmoon says:

    Very nice job! I have many trees here in Maine and some have burls on them…mostly on the red oaks. I always wondered what I could come up with for a beautiful product. Now I know. By the way, could you be so kind and let me know how removed the core from the bottom? After plunging the saw all around, the base, I am wondering how it was released. My guess is that you had to chisel out chunks at a time. Thank You for a great video!

  8. lestad32 says:

    Beautifull work…god bless your hands!! big hug man!!

  9. runrace1 says:

    i just cut down a black walnut tree. 20 ft log still standing. thinking of making a table.

  10. stonybrokebushcraf says:

    wow

  11. brithesaw says:

    beautiful :)

  12. sircrazykgb5495 says:

    wow that is cool as i found a great place for woodworking plans there is like 16000 plans its crazy its at downloadablewoodworkingplans.blogspot.com not sure there is many that use a chainsaw tho lol

  13. Mueiwark says:

    @waldodesteghe Thank you! It depends on the type of wood how bad the cracking will be (or ‘bad’…I rather like cracks, they make it look like wood, not plastic!) For example, Oak and Beech will surely crack because they are tough woods and don’t give way. Birch, Maple and pine are reasonably soft, and will crack not as bad. Still, to minimize all-to-big cracking I have removed 90% of the corewood, releaving stresses. Using oils help also, making the wood dry slow and steadily.

  14. waldodesteghe says:

    great piece!! looking at the top there are some small cracks (like it btw) but my question is: how do you keep it from splitting all the way and dividing the table in two? Is tung and lemon oil really all you put on the top. thx and keep making these more than beautifull pieces

  15. Mueiwark says:

    @darkinmysilence Thank you :)

  16. darkinmysilence says:

    Pretty spectacular. a mossy chunk of stump turned into a gorgeous table. nice.

  17. Takeyourlife1 says:

    Very cognitive video. But many things can be found here: alturl.com / 3z6sr (delete spaces)

  18. sdakjln says:

    yay chinsaw time lol

  19. alexis221woodworks says:

    Very nice….I love the look of tung oil

  20. Mueiwark says:

    @moparmanpete @moparmanpete Thank you :) I actually didn’t sold it…I cannot bear to do it.. It’s sitting in my living room at the moment.

  21. moparmanpete says:

    how much do you get for something like that?
    very good craftmanship!

  22. Mueiwark says:

    @arviragus Is a song from the german band Schiller, they have many more like this.

  23. EndangeredXXX says:

    Wonderful! Very nice work!

  24. arviragus says:

    Beautiful work – my father in law was inspired by this and is working on something similar now…what’s the song from?

  25. Azlam55 says:

    Hi there sorry not sure if Mueiwark is your tag or your name! Anyway just found you on youtube while researching for my new design brand. It really is good to see how you work and visualise the piece evolving through the stages.

    I am currently looking for someone who can supply/produce bespoke wooden natural/contemporary products (specifics to be discussed) If you want to have a quick chat then let me know and we can skype or something.

    Also let me know where you are based.

    Cheers

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