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I Forge Iron

Preparation of a Stump


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One method preparing an anvil stump.

The following outlines the process of how I have prepared anvil stumps to provide flat parallel faces at each end of the stump.

Tools needed: Router with 3/4" router bit.
Carpenter's Level
Shims (wedge/shingle type)
Level work surface ( a floor )
Dry Wall Screws and screwdriver
1 x 2 wood furring strip scraps
Section of tree trunk (Stump)

For the sake of clarity I will use: " 1 x 2 Way to mean the 1 x 2"s screwed to the stump. (a level surface on which the router rails slide)
" 1 x 2" Rail to mean the 1 x 2's screwed to the routed base

First shim and wedgie the tree "Stump" base, at the floor, until the Stump sides are plumb. Place enough shims and wedges to make sure the stump will stay in place while working to true up the first end surface. Use dry wall screws to secure the shims and wedges to each other . A piece of plywood on the floor helps secure things if available.

Prepare the stump Way 1 x 2's : Shim one 1 x 2 Way level on the top, high side of the "Stump". Fasten with dry-wall screws. Shim and level the second 1 x 2 Way level and in plane with the first 1 x 2 Way. In other words the second 1 x 2 Way must be level along it's length AND level with the first 1 x 2 Way. When level in both directions fasten with dry-wall screws. Double check that all is still level after fastening, adjust as necessary.

Prepare the router by screwing two 1 x 2' Ways to the router base. Place the 1 x 2's as far apart as possible while maintaining good stable contact. with the router base. Make the 1 x 2 Rails long enough on one or both sides of the bit centerline so that when the router bit touches one of the 1 x 2 Ways, the 1 x 2 Rails overlap the 1 x 2 Ways on the opposite side of the stump by a good margin. NOTE 1: You can cut from both sides. Note 2: I used the two board arrangement so I could see the router bit and clear the cuttings.

Rout the stump surface away between the Way 1 x 2's. by stages if necessary. Set the final router cut depth slightly below the lowest part of the top of the stump.

Once the center part of the stump is leveled remove the 1 x 2 Ways and screw them to the leveled stump surface (you may have to stack another on top). Re-set the router bit cut depth to match the depth of the newly leveled surface and rout away the remaining wood (ears).

You will now have a flat level surface on one end of the Stump. Turn the Stump over to place the flat end on the floor. Repeat the routing process on the other end.

When finished you should now have an Anvil stump which has the top and bottom parallel and flat.

Suggestions: The best routing procedure that I found was to pivot one 1 x 2 Rail off a 1 x 2 Way while sweeping the router in arcs. Seems like I used a dry-wall screw in a slightly oversized hole as a pivot . Sort of a third hand. Friction between the rails and ways cam be difficult to manage if you don't mechanically pivot one end or have a second person to assist. Maybe strips of wax paper would help reduce the friction . Set it all up and take a light cut to get the feel of how this works before making serious cuts . You really need both hands on the router to control the cut. Avoid climb cuts especially when taking deep cuts .

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Please note that most shop floors are not level and flat so be prepared to shim after doing all this work. Also the stump may shift when drying if you started with green wood.

If your stump is stable where you will be using it I would just level the top or even just rout out the anvil base shape into it's top level and flat.

Or my method for outside or dirt floored shops---pick up the stump and slam it back down till the top is level.

My old shop has a nice level concrete floor but when I take the anvils over to Tech to teach they need to be shimmed on the concrete floor over there.

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That'd work but there are other ways.

My first choice involves a number of years using chainsaws, with practice it's pretty easy to make square, smooth, cuts but you have to have a properly sharpened chain.

It wouldn't be too hard to make a guide for a chain saw either. Using screw attached guides as suggested for the router method and clamping wood guide pads to the chainsaw bar is easy and works really well. Heck, just buy an "Oregon Mill" and follow the directions but across the log instead of making lumber.

Another method that's commonly seen for blocking out firewood is to put the chain saw on a hinged mount at 90* to a "V" shaped cradle to hold the log. You might need to dress the log so it lays flat in the cradle but that's about as tricky as this method gets unless reading a tape measure is a trick. The hinge mounted chainsaw will always follow the same path so once one cut is made subsequent cuts will be parallel in 2 dimensions.

I did use a version of the originally described method when I morticed my anvil into it's block.

Frosty the Lucky.

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  • 3 years later...

I dragged home some pretty large stumps to use as bases yesterday. They are fresh cut so the wood is still green.

 

What do you guys do to prepare your stumps for use to hold a leg vise, stick an anvil on it etc.

 

I was thinking it will need to dry first to avoid rusting any attached items, and need to be sealed o prevent cracking/splitting?

 

Also interested to see what others have done with theirs.

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Depending on where you are in Australia mate, you might want to put something on those logs to deter the white ants. They make short work of most timbers up here in the north. What sort of timber is it? Cypress pine is termite resistant but I can't imagine you would find a cypress log 750 in diameter.
An end grain sealer would be a good move too.

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Melbourne,  I think it is some sort of Vic Ash. 

 

I drove past a house a few blocks down the street and the fella had cleared his block and most was getting chipped, I pulled up and asked him not to chip one and came back with a mate and a tandem trailler, couldn't winch the long in so cut it in two lengths. I have rough squared the ends with a chainsaw.

 

 

What sealer would you suggest?? I'd like it to Stay looking natural so something clear?

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An end grain sealer would be a good move too "

 

I used one of those small plastic concrete  mixing  trays  to soak the ends of my last stump.  That stump wasn't fresh cut and started to get fuzzy after a while.  The soak treatment cured that problem.

 

The big problem with soak treating is that, by the very nature of the solutions, they are hazardous/toxic.   If you have children or animals/pets around the soak area needs to be secure.  Whatever you use be sure to check out the MSDS data sheets and understand the hazards presented by the solution used. 

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Melbourne,  I think it is some sort of Vic Ash. 
 
 
 
What sealer would you suggest?? I'd like it to Stay looking natural so something clear?


I had some logs I wanted to preserve for later turning on the lathe and I just used some stuff I bought from Mitre 10. Can't remember he brand but it was called grain sealer. It went on a bit milky looking but dried clear enough. I know some blokes use ordinary acrylic paint to seal the end grain. Works OK but looks daggy.
With an ash log of that size I would be inclined just to bolt the anvil on and hammer away.
And yeah, I don't think you have a termite problem in Melbourne.
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Here in the states a good soak in a strong borax solution will generally deter termites and be pretty non-toxic, cheap and easy to work with.

 

My main "stumps" are 100 year old mine timbers that had been well creosoted back in the day but are WAY past the bleeding and sticky stage...

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The above data on "leveling" the ends of the stump are a good place to start, ... but I take mine a few steps further.

 

Since the bottom of your stump will not be "perfectly" flat, ... nor will the floor where it sits, ... there will still be a tiny bit of wobble.

 

So, ... after leveling the bottom, I would "relieve" the center, about 2mm deep, ... for about 2/3 of the diameter.

 

In the case of your 750mm diameter stump, you would be left with a 500mm recess in the center of the stump, ... and a 2mm high, 125mm wide, raised "ring" around the circumfrence.

 

Now, I would divide that "ring" into 3 equal sections, and relieve 1/2 or each section.

 

This will leave you with 3 very substantial "feet", about 2mm high, ... equally spaced around the base of your stump.

 

The beauty of this "tri-pod" effect, is that it will ALWAYS sit solidly, no matter where it's placed, or moved.

 

 

Now, ... on the "leveled" top side, ... I place the Anvil where I want it to sit, and draw the outline of the base onto the stump.

 

Then, remove the Anvil, and use the Router to relieve that shape, to a depth of about 15mm.

 

The Anvil will require no further mounting.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Now, for some speculation .....

 

As a log drys out, ( seasons ) uneven rates of shrinkage inevitably cause radial cracks. ( checking )

 

It is my UNTESTED OPINION that this checking can be avoided, ... or at least diminished, ... by removing a relatively small diameter "core" from the very center of the log.

 

In the case of your 750mm log, I'd try taking out about a 50mm core, ... using an adjustable, expanding type Auger Bit, with an Extension.

 

 

 

I will employ this technique on the next stump I prepare, ... but, ... in that the ones currently in service in my Shop are all in excess of 20 years old, ... and holding up quite well, ... I don't know when that day will come.  :D

 

 

Good Luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

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I will second the idea of a borax solution soak.    Although I have never used a borax solution for insect control I do use plain borax powder for ant control in and around my house.  it has proven very effective.   

 

However, you still do not want your pets lapping it up.

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I will second the idea of a borax solution soak.    Although I have never used a borax solution for insect control I do use plain borax powder for ant control in and around my house.  it has proven very effective.   

 

However, you still do not want your pets lapping it up.

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I do have a 6mth old Doberman pup, who is still in the stupid stage and want to taste everything. So I will need to be mindful of that.

 

We do have termites in my area but no sure they are as great a menace as they are in other areas.   Does soaking in kerosene stop termites they way it does borers???  Will mixing borax with kero react badly?

 

Slightly tripoding the base makes sense.

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Google "slab leveling Jig"

 

Adjust size to your equipment and needs.    

 

Having a good chainsaw person is a plus to get you close!!!

 

That would include sculpting the sides to the right shape, taper, Side flatness, knee room, potential attachments or what have you.

 

I would do all this before it dries.  As it dries it will crack all to heck.   And a huge slab / stump will take years to dry so if you trim it down some it will take less..  years...   But, it will still crack unless you band it tight!   Not sure if coating the ends will prevent much cracking...   And if it did I think we still talking many years to dry to the core!!!   You can use the banding for attachments.    

 

My stump is not banded and it is cracked but it is still pretty solid.   But it is a matter of time on the cracks I think...

 

On the bottom I think you want to also route in three supports.  In other words rout away, after leveling, to get three smalled raised surfaces as legs.   Say 1/4" to 1/2" high...   The magic self leveling three point contact.   You will never make it flat enough to sit on a non flat floor especially over time as it dries and moves.  Expect to use some wedges to support it...  over time.

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Always take off the bark. 
Peter

 

Peter, nice setup, like the idea of the upside down router table, but question about "always take off the bark" - is there a reason for this?   From a strictly decorative standpoint I prefer the bark on, but is there a reason to always remove it? 

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I too inset my anvil into the stump. I do it deep enough to be able to put fine sand in the bottom. Its much easier to level this way, and the sand deadens the sound like nothing else.

I also put my anvil into the ground. I've put 3-4" of pea gravel in the bottom, and used same gravel as fill. This keeps the moisture away from the wood


For my post vice, it goes at least 3' in the ground. With my chainsaw and Alaskan mill I rip one face the length from vice mount to bottom of the leg. This makes a nice step for the foot. Then I use a piece of heavy angle iron with a hole to match the tenon on the bottom of the leg. Lag the angle to the step and you have a secure hold for the leg.

I usually trim the sides of both my stumps to a rectangle with chainsaw and mill. Free hand works too. This aids in keeping the vice from turning when twisting and gives me to get closer to the anvil than a large round stump does. On the anvil stump I leave the buried part full, not squared to keep the mass.

The devil's in the details.

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I made a mix of melted beeswax, gum spirits of turpentine and some boiled linseed oil.   I made something like a spar varnish that protects wood, and a little beeswax helps seal in the other ingredients (like you do for a boat transom so it doesn't rot).  I worked that melted ingredients into the top and bottom of the stump with a paint brush.  If you still have the bark on, you can seal the ends of the bark with this mixture also also. After two years, I still have no cracks in my stumps.  I also have my stumps up off the dirt floor on a pad made of bricks.. That helps stop the bottom of the stump soaking up moisture from my barn floor and start rotting in the future.

 

I also wrapped around the top and bottom a wide strip of metal to make the stumps look more rustic. Note that your stumps will shrink, and you will want to coat the ends of the stump while green. If you don't seal the ends, the ends may split ('check'). (Wood turners do this with green wood so their wood chunks don't split.)

 

A stump can last a long time if you take care of it in the beginning .....   It's just wood ...you need to give it a little protection.

Ohio Rusty ><>

The Ohio Frontier Forge

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