# Building Rustic Aspen Furniture



## AspenLoco (Feb 21, 2011)

Hey all you Woodworking Wizards on here!

I'm new to the site, but I am excited to have found y'all so that you can help me get my grand undertaking off the ground. 

Just moved to Colorado from Oregon and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the 5 acres that I bought are FULL of Aspen trees. When my girl and I bought our house, we decided that rather than spend thousands on furniture, we would spend a bit less on tools and I will build the furniture for our house from the Aspens on our land. Quite an undertaking, it seems, but we are confident we can make it happen. Luckily, we live on the edge of a national forest and there is really nobody around, so we have as much Aspen as the heart desires!

I hope to keep this discussion going over the next 1-2 years as this project takes form and we actually start to produce some furniture. For now, though, I have just a couple of questions for anyone who can provide some insight. 

1) Should we build with living trees (cut them and dry them) or is it an option to build with already dead, standing and/or fallen Aspens? We live at 9500 feet and have been harvesting fallen trees to burn in our woodstove, and have found that although we have snow on the ground, the fallen (or dead and standing) Aspens are more than dry enough to get a good hot fire going. We thought, if we can burn them, why can't we build with them? 

2) I have built a drying rack in my heated garage that I keep at 50-60 degrees. How much time can we expect to need to let the trees that we cut dry/cure? Most of the trees that we will cut will have a 6 inch diameter or less. This answer depends on the above answer, we suppose. 

3) What can y'all tell me about when to harvest Aspens so that we can get the bark off easily? We have heard that there is a good time to harvest that will make the wood much easier to deal with and stronger for building. Any suggestions here? 

Thanks for your help, and we look forward to communicating with you all and sharing photos, triumphs and tribulations of this project with you over the next couple of years. 

AspenLoco
Bellevue Mountain
Idaho Springs, CO


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## unisawyer (May 7, 2010)

If you have enough standing dead, thats what I would use. Although its not that simple, are you building peeled pole type furniture or milling boards. Dry wood is hard to make good boards out of. Green wood requires drying time, the thicker the boards the longer it takes to dry. I wouldn't use anything that has been laying on the ground. Aspen mills, turns and finishes very nicely. Good luck!


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## AspenLoco (Feb 21, 2011)

*Building Rustic, Peeled Pole Type Aspen Furniture*



unisawyer said:


> If you have enough standing dead, thats what I would use. Although its not that simple, are you building peeled pole type furniture or milling boards. Dry wood is hard to make good boards out of. Green wood requires drying time, the thicker the boards the longer it takes to dry. I wouldn't use anything that has been laying on the ground. Aspen mills, turns and finishes very nicely. Good luck!


Excellent question. I should have clarified that I am planning to build "log" furniture exclusively. That said, there will be some milled pieces, of course. I am thinking the front of drawers, trim, etc. will be milled, but the rest I am planning to make exclusively from peeled pole. 

We do have quite a bit of standing dead available. There are essentially 2 grades of that: 1) the gray, bark-less type that we mostly use for fire wood and 2) the trees that look to have tied more recently and still retain quite a bit of their bark, but it is starting to fall off. The former, as my might guess, is more brittle than the later. 

I will try to get some photos of both posted today. What I am looking for, at this point in the process, is to get a good idea of how long I need to let these "logs" cure in my garage before I can get started building. I am anxious, of course, but I do realize that a proper cure is essential to good furniture. 

Is there a project out there that someone can recommend as one to get my feet wet with building rustic-style log furniture? I have decent experience building milled-style furniture, mostly with oak, but I have never built any log furniture. 

Thanks for your help!


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## unisawyer (May 7, 2010)

If you are building log furniture forget everything you know about cabinetmaking. The main thing you need in log furniture is a mortise and tenon, there are attachments for drills that mill the tenons but they look milled, I recommend using a draw knife as the knife marks are "old school". You will still need flat boards for table tops, chair seats and the likes. If you can afford a good 20" bandsaw that would be a good place to start, otherwise find a small mill to make you some boards. those will need to dry, as for the poles use the stuff that is just loosing its bark and don't worry about drying it. As for know how just practice on some scraps and plan on burning them. Drill a hole the size you want your joint in a scrap of plywood and use that to mark the tenon try to keep the last inch or so not tapered. Use gorilla glue and let it cure. you will be surprised at the strength. You can acquire a good draw knife on ebay look for a greenlee brand they are the best i have found yet. google rustic furniture for ideas.


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## AspenLoco (Feb 21, 2011)

*Ready to Run*

Hey Unisawyer,

Thank you for the excellent information. It really does sound easy! We'll see once I start making those cuts with the draw knife and get some good blisters going! 

I attached a picture of the joints on my banister. I am assuming those were made using the drill bit attachment you mentioned? They look to be pretty uniform. As you said, I like the rough look a lot better. 

With respect to using a band saw to make the flat boards for chairs, tables, benches, cabinet fronts, drawer fronts, etc. I can't say that I have had enough experience with a band saw to be confident enough to cut straight! That sounds lame, but true. Do you generally make a jig of some sort to keep the quality good? Or just eyeball it? 

I checked out the draw knives on Ebay. Pretty cool tool, for sure. They are pretty cheap as well. Do you recommend that I look for a new one or will I be happy with an "antique" one? 

Thanks for your help.


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## unisawyer (May 7, 2010)

The older the better on the drawknife, make sure the handles are solid and the blade is not nicked or had a lot of abuse. If you`r not comfortable making your own boards I would try to find a local smaller sawmill they may even have some already cut, if they will mill your logs custom have them leave the natural edge on.


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## gtedeschi (Nov 13, 2011)

*jig for band saw*

AspenLoco,

Im not sure if you still need this info or not but yes, making a jig for cutting on the bandsaw is all you need. There was an article in one of my woodworking magazines regarding this...I'll see if I can find it. My wife and I just started a small business making aspen log furniture and I am searching for some helpful information. I have been buying milled Aspen for about 4 years now. I dried some in a homemade kiln and lately, drying in my garage which seems to work really well. I would love to hear/see what you have been doing. the best logs I have found have been around 9000' and are still standing. But I dont have a ton of experience in where the best logs are found. Any suggestions?


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