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  #1  
Old 06-01-2017, 12:02 PM
JMOC JMOC is offline
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Default Making a stump

I've got my hands on a pretty big stump and wanted to get a view on my planned hollow before I do the wrong thing. Below you can see the stump dimensions and a quick sketch of the planned hollow that I think is along the lines of what I see being used by Peter Tomassini and Wray Shelin.

I am basing my rough dimensions on what I have picked up on some of the videos that I have been watching so I would really appreciate some advice from those that know better.

tn20170531_183328.jpg
tn20170531_183352.jpg
tn20170601_175111.jpg
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Old 06-01-2017, 01:09 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Those numbers look ok for the cutout.

The pic showing the measurement across the top shows a nice shape to the top edge. I asked Peter about advice regarding his preferred shapes to the top edges. Pics he has posted show him using the various shapes and contours of the top edge of his stump for producing a wide range of shapes. Don't waste your top edge- put the horseshoe cutout where it will not compromise your top.

Because of the size of the horseshoe and my smaller available stumps, I ended up doing two stumps. One has the cutout and one has the top edge developed.

I now have a larger & taller stump to do now with room for all of these features on one stump. I was unhappy with the height & weight of those first two oak stumps- dried for about 10 yrs here before I used them. Still, my stump split quite significantly within a couple of months of cutting the horseshoe. Yours looks very green and the moss is more romantic than beneficial. Once you start opening up a horseshoe, yours may split quickly too.... The oak I used also telegraphed a lot of end grain figure into aluminum- not cool.

Mass and height are big deals to me. Peter's 3lb blocking hammer easily moves metal. It also easily makes those small stumps bounce on the floor. Any bounce or movement is lost/wasted energy. Looks like your stump is large enough to not bounce when you hit it with a real hammer? If it doesn't move and is adequate height for your personal use, give it a try. You can always make a new stump(s) as you progress and know better what works best for you. That's what I'm doing.

These are my personal preferences after lots of other hammer work. How you swing is not my decision to make for you.....
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  #3  
Old 06-01-2017, 04:36 PM
JMOC JMOC is offline
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Hi AC, thanks for the reply. The stump is new and very green. The moss will be taken off and it needs to be cleaned. It will no doubt split. It is massive though and took two of us to move it to where it is so at the moment I don't think it will be moving around much when pounding on it.

When you say to not waste the top edge do you mean keep the cutout far enough from the edges to allow a few inches of flat? Just trying to understand what you mean by developing the edge. If I centralize the cutout then it would leave 6" or so all around the edges for shaping them.

I have seen some stumps with some smaller cutouts and was going to leave some space for them until I get some experience. Would you have a view on the use of smaller cutouts or should I just use what I sketched previously?

Thanks for the help.
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Old 06-01-2017, 05:45 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Yes, I do mean I think you should leave enough flat for use without wasting the shape you already have. By not centering the depression, you'll have a greater variety of flat spaces- wide, medium and narrow- which makes your stump more versatile imho.

Here's a link to thread from last fall. http://allmetalshaping.com/showthrea...t=15850&page=3 that shows how Peter laid out my two stumps for me to shape.

One has the horseshoe depression for tucking. The other has the edge contoured, basically multiple curves with both square and rounded edges, to provide a wide range of shapes to be worked. Your stump already has a very similar top shape to the one I had to make.

I would not put the cutout in the center. Offsetting it towards the most appropriate edge is what I plan to do with my new stump. I'll shape the edge first, then place the horseshoe. Very sure I will not put multiple recesses in the top. The round holes seem more likely to leave a semicircle witness that the horseshoe. And it's always easier to cut more off or make a hole bigger than it is to make it smaller....

My new stump is pecan, cut last fall so is also green and heavy. I've kept the ends covered with sawdust and so far it has not split significantly. Pecan grain looks like van goh's Starry Nights- another reason I kept this one. It's got some flare (limb crotch) on one end so I'll be using it upside down because it's a lot more stable that way. Maybe yours has one end wider than the other you could use to your advantage as well.

If your stump is tall and you're still unsure of the perfect solution, leave it tall , cut your top however you want and stand on a short step, pallet, riser while you're swinging until you figure it out. Then you can either cut off the bottom if you're happy with it or cut off the top and redo it. It's also a simple way to figure out the most comfortable height to both hold and swing without wasting a stump.

Being comfortable swinging has a lot to do with maintaining control and managing fatigue. I constantly use cribbing and risers in various combinations while I work. And being comfortable makes using a big enough hammer well much easier.

Hope this helps....
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Last edited by cliffrod; 06-01-2017 at 06:37 PM. Reason: Fix the link
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  #5  
Old 06-02-2017, 09:33 AM
Marc Bourget Marc Bourget is offline
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It talking with a man born in the 1880s, who had some experience with Stumps, he recommended banding a fresh cut log with enough "clamp" built in that you could maintain tension even as the wood dried (slowly). He felt it helped ward off splitting.

He also recommended sealing the ends with roofing patch (tar) but I read someplace that it wasn't recommended.

Having advanced these points, I have yet to test this "handed down" advice.

All comments welcome !
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Old 06-02-2017, 03:09 PM
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Richard K Richard K is offline
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Facts:
1. A stump shrinks radially; not across the diameter.
2. A metal band around the stump will do nothing to prevent a radial split.
3. When your knee strikes the metal band connection it will cause pain.
4. Knee pain caused by a useless band is maddening.
5. A mad metalshaper with knee pain and a swinging hammer causes damage.

Let the stump dry over years...you and the stump will be just fine.
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Old 06-02-2017, 05:28 PM
JMOC JMOC is offline
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AC, That is most helpful and explains clearly what I should do to get it going. I'll post a pic when completed, for comment. Many thanks.

I was actually considering banding it but discarded the idea. It will shrink and it already has some splitting so I don't see it being worth the trouble. If it splits, it splits.
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Old 06-02-2017, 06:27 PM
bobadame bobadame is offline
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[QUOTE=Marc Bourget;137229]It talking with a man born in the 1880s, who had some experience with Stumps, he recommended banding a fresh cut log with enough "clamp" built in that you could maintain tension even as the wood dried (slowly). He felt it helped ward off splitting.

I'd have to agree with his advise. I put together a walnut stump on 3 legs. It's about 24" in diameter and the stump section is about 18" tall. The stump sat out behind the barn for 2 years before I attached the legs to it. I did put a band around it and drew it tight with a half inch bolt. I've had to tighten the draw bolt a couple of times for a total of about an inch and a half in circumference or about half inch in diameter. There are no cracks or splits in it anywhere after about 5 years. I've treated it with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits a couple of times.
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Old 06-02-2017, 08:19 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JMOC View Post
AC, That is most helpful and explains clearly what I should do to get it going. I'll post a pic when completed, for comment. Many thanks.

I was actually considering banding it but discarded the idea. It will shrink and it already has some splitting so I don't see it being worth the trouble. If it splits, it splits.
No thanks are needed. Glad to help. I just went through the same thing doing mine and am still making changes.... I don't have a lot of room for even more stuff so need to use space economically. Your project for me down into the shop last night to start stripping bark from my next stump. So I kinda owe you a thank you for getting me going again.

Keep your ends oiled, sealed, painted, waxed, whatever to help it dry slowly through the sides. Keep it out of direct sunlight with good ventilation. That includes the bottom. If you trap or block moisture in by setting it upon boards or something wide, it may rot or mold. Once mold starts growing, the hyphae don't go away unless you cut them completely out and they can go surprisingly deep. The mold will grow whenever it has moisture. The spores come next...

No matter what you do some wood, like the walnut mentioned, doesn't check as readily like some others, such as red oak, do. I have black walnut that l harvested nearly 40 yrs ago that I still haven't carved and it has literally no checking. Red oak, local to me, checks like crazy. I had hoped these two I just did- dried inside my shop here for at least a decade- would be dry enough to stable even though it had not been 1 yr of drying per inch of thickness. that big crack through my horseshoe depression was not there when I cut the depression just a day or two before that pic was taken. It happened really fast and no metal band would have prevented it. Not cool...

Not sure what your stump is- I thought the Crown cut down all the oaks in Ireland long ago to help put down the Druids...

Lots of good advice here on the forum. It just gets passed around and around and around....
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