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Two rounds and a board

 
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I just saw this on Facebook and it really has the gears turning. It is a simple bench made cutting a slit in each of two large rounds cut from a tree, and placing a large board in the slits to serve as a bench. It can be disassembled. The ends can be cantilevered, and if a person or weight is placed on an end, the board will not fly off as it would if just placed on top of the rounds. Or, the rounds could be placed at the ends. I can see these scattered all around Wheaton Labs.

What really has me intrigued is the infinite permutations that are possible. The height of the rounds could be adjusted. Taller, and two benches could be placed together with corresponding notches on the other side of the rounds to hold a tabletop to make a picnic table. Some sort of vise could be fastened on top of a round. Something like a filemaker's vise could make it a practical shave horse. It could be long enough to have multiple stations. It's all modular, so could be changed as needed. I'd like to see what other ideas people can come up with.
Screenshot_20240201-110135-073.png
Bench made from a board and two rounds of wood
 
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What an ingenious idea. I could see these scattered along hiking trails when blowdowns have to be removed. Simple solution that honors the ecosystem, allows the nutrients to return to the soil in place, and adds a place to stop and have a sip of water. Brilliant! I'm gonna share this with my trail maintenance group, too.

j
 
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I wonder with green rounds if you do it right that the friction between the shrinking wood and the board would hold it in place enough to deal with the occasional bump or bash. I think it might be easy enough to pin it as well!

I'm liking this... the wheels are turning in my brain now.
 
Jordan Holland
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If the top of each round were planed relatively smooth\flat, it could make a desk top. It would be so cool to place multiple rounds with just enough room for one bottom between them, where each person has a desk, like in a classroom setting.

It could be cut slanted at any angle desired, like to be easier to write by hand, or as a easel for painting.
 
Jordan Holland
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Timothy Norton wrote:I wonder with green rounds if you do it right that the friction between the shrinking wood and the board would hold it in place enough to deal with the occasional bump or bash. I think it might be easy enough to pin it as well!



Wood does not shrink much longitudinally, but you might do the opposite and dry the board as much as possible so when placed outside it may expand a little as it gains humidity. I would prefer removable pins or lag bolts, though. The bench would be heavy, but still relatively easy to move by rolling the rounds when disassembled. The heavy rounds would add to stability.
 
Jordan Holland
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The top of a round could be cut out in a shape to make a high chair for a baby. It could be cut out to an exact shape to firmly hold a commonly used vessel, or as a large bowl, or as a mortar for grinding or otherwise processing materials.
 
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Timothy Norton wrote:I wonder with green rounds if you do it right that the friction between the shrinking wood and the board would hold it in place enough to deal with the occasional bump or bash. I think it might be easy enough to pin it as well!

I'm liking this... the wheels are turning in my brain now.



I was thinking the roundwood is almost certainly going to move, but my guess is the movement would tend to be such that the notches in it widen or open up, making any board placed inside come loose eventually.

So I really like this idea but I see it as a way to perhaps relatively quickly make a temporary bench or table. Perfect e.g. if you have just cleared a small area for a campfire with a chainsaw and want to make relatively comfy seating around it for more than a couple people.
 
Jordan Holland
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Ned Harr wrote:

So I really like this idea but I see it as a way to perhaps relatively quickly make a temporary bench or table. Perfect e.g. if you have just cleared a small area for a campfire with a chainsaw and want to make relatively comfy seating around it for more than a couple people.



I can also see it as a relatively easy way to make "disposable" seating, but I am more enamored by the possibilities for more versatility, especially for doing work. If I were in the middle of nowhere and needed to make some temporary seating for a group, I would be more likely to just cut the rest of the large tree into rounds and use them as seats as opposed to the extra work of ripping some of it into boards to make these benches. I suppose the boards could be brought from home if one was traveling in a truck or with a trailer or something, but then that same space could have been used to simply transport some folding chairs without the hassle of cutting the rounds to make the benches. These benches would look cooler than chairs, though!
 
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Seems like a nice idea for no hardware temporary seating. But if they were to be used as long-term benches, you would be surprised how fast they will rot. I like things I don't have to redo in a few years. These are not it.
 
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Jim Fry wrote:But if they were to be used as long-term benches, you would be surprised how fast they will rot.


I would not be very surprised. Yes, this presupposes that a person who would make these has knowledge of their intended area of use and of wood.  Where I live, there are species of trees that would be rotten within a year if left outside in the weather. There are also species that would last for many years. There is wood in some areas of the world that is millennia old. There is a great deal of wood out there that has been in load bearing applications for centuries and is still going strong. I imagine one of these benches residing in a workshop or in a house would last at least as long as the roof over its head. Proper tool for the proper application, I would say.
 
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Jordan Holland wrote:

Jim Fry wrote:But if they were to be used as long-term benches, you would be surprised how fast they will rot.


I would not be very surprised. Yes, this presupposes that a person who would make these has knowledge of their intended area of use and of wood.


We've got a type of tree that grows fast and goes dangerous quickly when it is standing dead. It is bulky for the BTU content, although we burn some in our wood-stove anyway, as we're not in that cold an environment, so a quick fire in the morning to take the chill off is often enough.

However, if we needed temporary seating, or a fast outdoor table, this idea would work just fine. As soon as it started to rot in a year or two, it would be ready to put in the bottom of a garden bed to finish decomposing.

It might be a good beginner project for someone learning hand tool or chainsaw skills.
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