Sanding back gnarled timber??

[haforbes]

I've got some nice weird shaped bits of timber that are all gnarled and twisted which I'd quite like to get all cleaned back for sort of decorative pieces in the garden etc.. How can I do this? I was wondering about maybe a sand blaster but I know nothing about them?? Any help is appreciated

[EddieJ]

I guess that it would very much depends on the the species of wood, but here is an example of a piece of oak that I recently had blasted. I left it to dry out thoroughly for approx 4 months before having it blasted. Tomorrow the prop of wood underneath gets replaced with a very nice mirror polished stainless steel tube and plate.

 

Before.

 

 

 

After

 

[haforbes]

That looks awsome! That's the kind of thing I'm aiming to do except it will be with some ash, beech and maybe sycamore if I can find the right piece. So what's the deal with sand blasting? Do you have your own kit? Is it expensive etc?? Thanks

[Guest Aaron Berg]

A drill with a sanding flappy wheel or a wire brush bit are fine and you can get right in the cracks. Alternatively and angle grinder with sanding discs do a lot. Clean it off afterwards and when it's dry a bit of oil (danish is fine) and it's done! The bits would be less than a fiver, getting stuff blasted professionally is expensive but it does look great.

[slackbladder]

That looks fantastic

Just shows we can't beat nature no matter how hard we try

keep up the brilliant work

[EddieJ]

Sorry for the delay in replying.

 

I'd love my own blasting kit, but sadly I have to use someone else to do it. The average cost is about £30.00 but you do have to make sure that the wood is absolutely bone dry.

 

I had another piece blasted today.http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/chainsaw-carving-forum/41873-natural-danger-wip.html#post687897