Cedar Pole Project Ideas

[metalspinner]

Alright, Guys.

I have an opportunity to acquire quite a few cedar trees that are "pole" size.  Roughly 3, 4, and 5' in diameter.  Just scanning the area there may be 30 or so of these. 

I'm looking for some project ideas to get me excited about doing the work of removing these trees.  I don't need to mess with the brush and can take as much as I like. ;D


One idea is a swing and frame to put on the patio.  My wife has been hinting about that for a while.

Aside from that, I'm out of ideas.   Do you have any you would like to share??

[Burlkraft]

I always have a stash of cedar poles around.

They make great legs and stretchers for tables and chairs

The nice thing about them you can keep them around for years and they stay usable.

I got my last stash from Jeff's tree thinning efforts in the UP

[Jeff]

Oh Lordy, Cedar Poles. They rank right up there with duct tape.  Give me a couple seconds to walk around the house with my camera...

[Jeff]

Depicted here are 16 uses, and I never took pictures of the log beds or any of the little other nick-naks either.

[Don K]

I like the white cedar ya'll have up there. It makes some beautiful stuff.

Don

[metalspinner]

Thanks for the pics, Jeff.  I like the train on top of the log idea. 

That bench is kinda like what I had in mind for the swing.

[woodbowl]

I've got some red cedar and cypress poles I need to do something with as well. They're not really big enough to get wide lumber out of so I plan to use them in the round and maybe flatten one side for special fit projects.

[Cedarman]

I sent 4 pallets of 2" ugly old 8' poles to Universal Studios to make a Hippogriff nest.  Far be it from me to make stuff like Jeff. I have no talent for that, but sure can appreciate them. I'm happy to be the raw material supplier to you talented folks.
I buy all the small stuff from loggers I can get.
Latest request is 550  3 1/2" to 4" top by 5 to 6" butt by 20'. Growing hops.
Metalspinner, you should have some fun with those small poles.  When they sit around a year or two , the bark comes off easy and the sapwood should have some funny colors and a few bug tracks.

[metalspinner]

It's been a while since I started this topic, but I have a few pics to share. This is a table we will use around our firepit.

When limbing the tree, this branch looked kinda cool, so it became the back leg of the table.








The stretcher tenons were turned on the lathe.















Laying out an upper stretcher that the table top will eventually rest on.








Cutting a notch to receive the stretcher...







Turning the tenon for the top stretcher...








Things are starting to come together now.







The long stretchers I cut out the old school way with a handsaw and chisel.  They were just too bendy to put on the lathe.  I didn't get any pics of that process.

Right now I'm in a holding pattern until I get to the mill to saw the flitches for the top...

BTW, I killed the drill seen in the pics above.  Running that heavy auger in a cordless drill is not advisable. :-[

A tenon cutter would sure be handy, but they are pricey.  The lathe work moves pretty quick, but for the oddball shaped and very long pieces, it's not practical.

[SwampDonkey]

A local barrel shop made potato barrels from white cedar, but they also made a lot of outdoor furniture. One was a 2 seater bench with a table in between. Those things lasted for years. We had one here, I don't think it rotted I just got tired of it.  Scorn me. :D

When we were kids, we used to raid my uncles fence post pile and build climbing forts. :D

[metalspinner]

Here it awaits its nail and wire infested flitch board top. :D

[metalspinner]

Got it done today after a trip to the sawmill.  Here is the selection of flitches.  Incredibly, we hit zero nails in this tree.  The tree was girdled with wire and I pulled out 6 nails from the surface.  We saved this tree to mill last because I just knew we would ruin the mills blade with hidden metal.  But luck was on our side today.







Here are the two pieces for the top cut to length and chalk lines snapped for ripping...







Ripped...







The finished table.






I still need to make a couple of benches for around the firepit.  You can see the half cedar logs in the first pic of this post that I will use for those benches.

[SwampDonkey]

Hey, looks great. I see ya got yourself a nice hat rack to. ;D

I noticed your grass is no further ahead than mine. I don't rake leaves, so mines full of leaf litter.  Might have to mow this Friday around the barn at least. Joy. ;D

[Burlkraft]

Nice job on the bench. That's some pretty nice ERC ya got there!  ;)  ;)

I that a Milwaukee saw I see in the back ground there?

[metalspinner]

Yeah, it's a wonderful saw.  But at the end of 125' of extension cord it barely had enough grunt to get the job done.  That was a good sized cedar tree.  A friend is clearing some of his property and offered the spoils to me. ;D

SD,
The couple of feet of grass around the firepit is sod I layed down just last week.  The rest of the yard just looks pitiful. :(  I did weed and feed it last week.  Hopefully it will start to fill out and look like a lawn soon.

[Patty]

Very nice MS! I love the look of eastern red cedar.

[metalspinner]

Here's a little cedar pole project that's been put to lots of use lately.






Our local scouting district asked for a sign that could be used at various scouting functions.  So  came up with this billboard. We can pin posters, pictures and announcements on it without getting them wet.

I made the roof removable for easy transport.





You can see in this pic that the roof's ridge beam slips into this notch for quick attachment.






Most of the joinery is mortise and tenon, though the angled supports in the legs have all thread running through them.

Looking at the pictures just now, I think I should add a little arm support out of the top of the leg to dangle a lantern from.

[WDH]

How did I miss this thread  ???.  MS, very enterprising and creative, but that does not surprise me coming from you  ;D.

[TheWoodsman]

Any bug issues with stored cedar poles ?