log for a cake

[jose]

Hi All

I have been asked to cut a log for a wedding cake to sit on.

its going to be about 2ft diameter and about 4 inches deep roughly.

 

Any got any advice for what would be best?

Wet or dry? I have both.

Anything that may be poisonous? Not sure if they plan to put anything under the cake or if they r going straight onto the wood?

 

Maybe even options for a nice grain?

 

Cheers for any advice.

Jose

[Daniël Bos]

Hi All

I have been asked to cut a log for a wedding cake to sit on.

its going to be about 2ft diameter and about 4 inches deep roughly.

 

Any got any advice for what would be best?

Wet or dry? I have both.

Anything that may be poisonous? Not sure if they plan to put anything under the cake or if they r going straight onto the wood?

 

Maybe even options for a nice grain?

 

Cheers for any advice.

Jose

 

Ask yourself just how jealous you are of the bridegroom and there's your answer:biggrin:

[fergusonforestry]

sycamore if cake will be directly on it

[jose]

lol not me. I have not even seen the wife to be im afraid. Im not even invited!

 

I do have a fair bit of Sycamore hanging about, maybe do a trial run see if they like it.

[wisewood]

I've done a few of these, the cake will probably be on a thin cake board so any wood should be fine.

Cut it and stack it on laths like you'd do with milled planks and get some weight on it. Leave it to air dry for a couple months and it should be fine. You may need to sand/plane any wobble out of it, you don't want the cake to topple over:laugh1:

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

lime beech or as suggested sycamore, my father made a chopping board from Liriodendron and we are all alive!

[frets1]

apple?

[jose]

Cake board? ingenious!

joking aside i only have about 3 weeks till the wedding so it may have to be a bit on the rougher side unfortunatly.

Cool time to go hunt out a good log!

[agg221]

Given the timescale, you're not going to get much drying and any you do get will be too quick and cause cracking. With that in mind, I think I would be inclined to do it as close to the day as possible, sand it straight up and seal it on both ends with a coat of acrylic varnish - matt or gloss depending on your preference. This will bring the grain out nicely and pretty much stop any drying over the following few days (I'd also keep it very cool with as little air movement as possible, maybe in a garage or shed, if you have one in the shade). This should mean there is almost no drying, and hence no cracking or movement.

 

It won't last much beyond the day, but it should look great for the occasion itself.

 

Alec