# Spruce or birch for log furniture



## AlaskanCelt (Apr 15, 2017)

Hey guys, got question for everyone. I live in Central Alaska and I'm wanting to make some log furniture for myself and others, only problem is, geographically we don't have any of the typical good trees for that ie. cedar or pine. We have loads of ugly black spruce but I can't imagine that stuff good for anything but firewood. We have white spruce and birch (as well as cottonwood) and was wondering if any of those would be viable for log furniture. Please help!


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

AlaskanCelt said:


> Hey guys, got question for everyone. I live in Central Alaska and I'm wanting to make some log furniture for myself and others, only problem is, geographically we don't have any of the typical good trees for that ie. cedar or pine. We have loads of ugly black spruce but I can't imagine that stuff good for anything but firewood. We have white spruce and birch (as well as cottonwood) and was wondering if any of those would be viable for log furniture. Please help!


There is a wide variety of looks for log furniture. My guess is you want something with more knots in it so I think spruce would do it for you.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

I would use the hardest of the woods you have available. I think White Spruce is too soft for furniture. Almost too soft for anything. Also I would think Cottinwood would be a real crap wood for furniture. So of the woods you've named, I would go with the Birch. 
Even rustic furniture needs to be strong.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I live not too far south of you at 53N in the mountains. We have all the tree species you mention.
It should (?) be spring soon for you so cut a length of black spruce and peel the bark. 
Chisel the knots flush with the wood and see what you think of the appearance. 
You say it's ugly. But of all you mentioned, it's the only one with any character!!
I expect you want figure and any other evidence of the log source/rustic quality.
I don't think that black spruce will sweat resin anywhere near as bad as white spruce.

2" to 3" is going to be like building with 2x4 so I woudn't be at all concerned with strengths in short, furniture-sized pieces.
Cottonwood is too punky soft and featureless. Peeled, birch is just as dull. Birch with the bark on might be nice for accents
but it's going to shed crap all over the house.

Drying: Outdoors, under cover and not cooked in a shed, you can expect out woods to dry down to an equilibrium moisture content of 12% - 14%.
This will take about a year for each inch of thickness. So, a 2" stick harvested now ought to be dried in 2019.
You can dry it indoors to a lower MC (10% and less) but you run the greater risk of cracking.
Cracking will happen, whether you seal th ends or not.

Wood of any sort that you harvest this spring ought to start to be dried enough in 2019 and 2020. 
Can you salvage any useful deadfall or wind-thrown trees?

There's a rustic furniture shop a block down my street that works with diamond willow and birch. They harvest 4-5 cords of 8' wood every spring and strip the bark.
Then into numbered bins to dry. They expect cracking so the 8' sticks 1" - 5" diameter give them some 6' of clear wood to work with. They make everything from staircase railings
and dining room furniture to queen-size beds and walking canes.

My sense of balance is screwed up. I have to walk with one of their diamond willow canes to keep from tipping over. 
Highly figured, I could have sold it 10X. They make 50 at a time.

Anyway, good luck with it, which ever wood you select.


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## 35015 (Nov 24, 2012)

Hello AlaskanCelt,

I have done a great deal of Twig, Greenwood, Folk, Rustic, and/or Adirondack Style Furniture over the years...Googling any of these will take you to all kinds of links (good and bad ones...so be warned)

There simply is no...*"typical good trees" (aka good or bad)*...species to do this type of Green Woodworking in. It has been around for a very long time, and is uniformly considered the oldest form of furniture work known (in various forms)...being thousands of years old and from many cultures...

Black (or White) Spruce would be just fine to use, yet will require the resin to be wiped off with Turpentine, as it can discharge more so than other species of Conifer...I have done pieces in every species you have listed, so you are not limited at all, and have as much to select from as many do...

Willow Work is perhaps the most common and ubiquitous just behind that done in Bamboo...So...you can effectively employ any wood you wish too that is available to you...Each will have its own characteristics...

*A note on drying*...Most of these methods are *"green wood"* forms of woodworking. There is little to no need to...*dry wood*...for this system or style of woodworking. In general, most pieces dry out rapidly anyway, and many dry too quickly as it is, so in some system are kept in streams or ponds before use. Depending on species characteristics it is often vital to wax the ends of stock before use to greatly mitigate too rapid a loss of MC. Waxing can, in many species, completely arrest the checking and other drying distortions...

The concepts of the wood having...*to be dry*..is more a contemporary "thought" than based in historical application modality of actual technique...generally speaking. Spot...case hardening...is found in some systems as is Steam Bending, full Fire Hardening, and different methods of kerfing like Sewari 背割 or 背割り “spine divide” or “back split” method of relieving stress in building materials or even in large timbers...
Good luck and glad to offer more guidance where I can...

j


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I guess that I missed the part where the OP said that he wanted to do green wood working. Sorry about that.

I'm positive that his bamboo harvest in AK will be a lot less than the sometimes profusion of elegant diamond willow
found in our bottom lands. Entire groves of it are diseased, stretching for many acres to 6" diameters.


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## 35015 (Nov 24, 2012)

The Op asked about...*"...wanting to make some log furniture..."*, and since by its historical nature in means, method and materials (for the most part) is considered...green woodworking...I offered additional information for consideration. As such I don't think anything has been missed, only some ancillary understanding suggested...for those that wish to consider it...

Willow and Bamboo work are very similar in methods and styles of working as it applies to folk style furniture. This was only offered (should those interested wish to look) as another means of forming Rustic furniture...

Fungal infected Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and Willow (Salix spp...aka "Diamond Willow") is a wonderful suggestion for additional materials found in Alaska and other colder climates...


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

This is good. A body of suggestions. Nice to add my practical and professional experience as a retired dendrology professor. 
I still contend that bamboo is going to be a real bugger to harvest in central Alaska. Give that a miss.
Our crop failure here has lasted since the Cretaceous or before. Maybe even before the Obscene or the Profane. 
I can't recall the useful plate tectonic movements which might have given us more.

I like Diamond willow. The local shop uses huge quantities every year. They can be drum-sanding for 30-40 days.
They actually get invitations to do land clearing! When you intend to varnish 50 canes at a time, you use a glove, not a silly brush.

The head board/foot board and rails for a queen-size DW bed is a sight to behold. 
5" - 6" diamond willow posts are so figured, it takes a while to study them.
Wish I had a few $kilobucks to squander.

Black spruce (Picea *****) does have a surface figure worth evaluating. I had a rocking chair in a past life made of BS.
The bark had been cut short with a draw knife or a spoke shave to keep the resin tight.


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

a lot of rustic log style furniture here is being made by the Amish with eastern red cedar, or lately, sassafras. Now the log bed rails may need supports in the center, but that is the nature of the wood. The sassafras is used with the bark partially sanded and then varnished (or some other preservative) The first log furniture I ever saw was cottonwood and then saw some made from Tulip poplar, but that is way too soft and often has mineral streaks in it. 

Some of the antique dealers around here are big into "hobo" furniture, made from slender sticks and bent willow whips.


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