Has anyone tried using a tree trunk?

[Bradley J]

I've got a couple nice, straight, and large solid oak sections of trunk about four feet long. I'm thinking about making some floor-standers out of them. It will probably be removable baffle with and MDF baffle. The trunk will be shaped somewhat similar to the curved cabinets sold here, rough planed to keep the character of the trunk.

My biggest worry is how to prevent cracking or deal with it as it occurs. I was thinking about using an epoxy or fiberglass treatment on the inside. The logs are big enough for pretty much any wall thickness.

Any thoughts? If i get something going today I'll post pictures a bit later.

[MagicO309d]

About a year ago there was a thread posted about this here. Someone was selling "log speakers" on ebay built pretty much as you described.

[r-carpenter]

assuming you are talking about lower section close to the roots
trunks could be used very well as veneer. 1780th Russian, 1815th German and Austrian furniture makers did it very successfully. Stiles of furniture were called Russian Jacob and Biedermeier for Germans.
The trick with stumps and roots is to cure it for a long time. Not dry but CURE. Let it stabilize.

[davepellegrene]

r-carpenter gives you good advice on drying. Unfortunately it will take a long time.
I built some small full range speakers out of small logs a few months ago. They cracked pretty good while drying and I just sealed them up with silicone from the inside. I thought the cracks added character.


Here is a link to some pics. Not exactly what you are doing but may give you some idea's

Dave

[MagicO309d]

Would boring out the heartwood from the logs, as soon as possible, while they are still green help mitigate the cracking problem?

[bobbarkto]

Logs that large will split badly. They'll open up from the outer edge to the center as they dry.
Much worse than Dave's smaller example.

If you could halve them length wise and stabilize them with PEG or something you might have a chance.
An alcohol bath could work, too. Would take a long time to displace all the water and a boatload of alcohol.
The sooner you get them in a presrevative or cut up the better. Stresses, and depending on the species, rot, fungus, decay, staining, etc. will start to build the moment the wood is cut.

[Bart Oetken]

A log design is a good idea. The thing I would be worried about is it spliting as time went by. Unless they have been sitting for a longtime after they have been cut down and maybe kline dried.

I made a cuting board out of cedar one time. Cut the tree down and sawed it up and made a cutting board and a week later it split in two.

Now oak is solid as it gets so. Give it a try and it might sound awesome. The thing Ive head in the past that hardwood ressonate more then ply wood. But some damping can fix that. A solid tree is a solid tree doesnt get any harder then that.

Sounds like a neat project you should show some pics later on.

[neildavis]

If you are just trying to get a cylindrical wood enclosure, you might want to consider using log siding. I need to build some mains and surrounds for our log cabin, and I tried a simple mock-up last week using trimmed strips of log siding. It looks nice, and it will be a lot easier than working with a whole log. Just need to hollow out the siding pieces a bit with the table saw or router, rip each side to get the right width, and then biscuit and glue the strips together into a cylinder. Pine isn't a great material for speaker cabinets, but it is probably OK down to where the sub can take over.

[Bradley J]

cool, thanks for the input everyone. Looking at wikipedia, it seems that the difference in drying between the outside and inside of the log causes splitting. So right now my plan is to get it hollowed out.

Then i''m not so sure... I wondering whether i should coat it with epoxy or urethane or something to slow drying.

At any rate, i've got most of it the first one down to solid hardwood. I'll post a pic in the daylight tomorrow.

[DanHine]

I have seen these log speakers but I am not sure if they have since had any issues with cracking. Perhaps you could try to contact the author of the article to see how well they have last.

- Dan

[Bradley J]

r-carpenter gives you good advice on drying. Unfortunately it will take a long time.
I built some small full range speakers out of small logs a few months ago. They cracked pretty good while drying and I just sealed them up with silicone from the inside. I thought the cracks added character.


Here is a link to some pics. Not exactly what you are doing but may give you some idea's

Dave

great pics. thanks for sharing. It's good to know that even if they split the project won't be ruined.

[Bradley J]

Logs that large will split badly. They'll open up from the outer edge to the center as they dry.
Much worse than Dave's smaller example.

If you could halve them length wise and stabilize them with PEG or something you might have a chance.
An alcohol bath could work, too. Would take a long time to displace all the water and a boatload of alcohol.
The sooner you get them in a presrevative or cut up the better. Stresses, and depending on the species, rot, fungus, decay, staining, etc. will start to build the moment the wood is cut.

Thanks, I knew nothing about PEG but it seems like an ideal solution (pun intended). I'm not sure how I'll manage to soak them though, these suckers are big.

[Bradley J]

I found an interesting document on using PEG to stabilize green wood: http://owic.oregonstate.edu/pubs/peg.pdf

I think a couple large trash cans are in my future.

[Whitneyville1]

Woodcraft and Klingspor sell the stuff you need by the gallon. It's mostly used by wood turners for treating green wood, but it will work for you too. You've got to get rid of that heartwood as it's dripping wet. If you've ever watched a log dry, the heartwood cracks first, then spreads the cracks through the cambium of the wood. It's a matter of the wood trying to reach an equilibrium of moisture with-in itself. (Woo, scientific talk!)

[bobhowell]

I have experimented with this. My idea was to make small fr speakers for surrounds that would look like some art object, with a speaker hidden away. I cut off a 11 1/2 " section as my band saw will only handle under 12". I used a section of 10" oak from the firewood pile that was a yr old and had rot and cracks. I made the box by gluing the peices back and hit it with a rough wire brush to knock off loose wood and give it texture. A coat of oil went on last to see what it would look like.

Big and ugly. Not worth making another matching box. I have nothing to show as I burned it soon after in the fire place.

Another failed effort at art. Good kindling though.

You can make a box alright but beauty is illusive.

Good luck.

Bob