A Froe - right tool for the job?

[DuncanA]

I've got a largeish chunk of Laburnum which has been lying in my parents garden for too long now (at least three years). The core of the tree did have some sort of rot - a sort of mossy type stuff filling cracks on the inside, but I figured I might be able to get a few lengths of usable wood from it, or if nothing else good fun and experience learning what (not) to do. I'm not expecting any large beautiful planks but enough to make the odd little box or trinket would be nice - even if riven wood does mean I loose some of the beauty of the grain.

We had the tree surgeon split the trunk into two parts, the smaller half I've kept under shelter while the larger bit has sat on some sticks to keep it off the ground with it's sap-wood (and more sacrificial) side up to the elements and the bark stripped off. The plan was to see if I could split it into some boards that I might be able to rough down into usable planks of wood using a froe (Roy Underhill/Peter Follansbee style). I did look into places that would saw it up but considering the rot and the cost of transporting it and getting it sawn didn't seem worthwhile for such a small yield of usable wood.

The radius is about 8 - 9in. and the length maybe 3 ft.

So, now I'm finally getting round to dealing with it I have a couple of questions about froes.

1) Is a froe still the right tool for the job considering the wood has spent so long drying out and is no longer really green. Does the species influence things here too?

2) What size froe do I need? At Woodsmith (http://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/category/froes/) I was looking at the Ray Iles large froe (aside: would I want the standard or premium?) which they say is good for medium duty work, but that the Gransfors Burks would be better for heavy duty work. I've also come across the Ray Iles XL froe (http://www.oldtools.free-online.co.uk/shop/froes.html) which I assume may serve for heavy duty work? I'm not sure if this job is medium or heavy duty - the priority is to get the right tool for the job, but I'd also like to buy British if I can and get a tool that will be versatile for other jobs in the future.

So, how would you recommend I get some pleasure and wood from this lump?

 

[undergroundhunter]

IMHO its a bit late for a froe, it would need sawing due to being do hard and dry. A Froe is a green tool.

Matt

 

[bugbear]

Unless the grain is very straight, riving with the intention of making flat boards is going to be extremely wasteful.

BugBear

 

[Jelly]

Unless the grain is very straight, riving with the intention of making flat boards is going to be extremely wasteful.

BugBear

+1

My recent riving experiences have shown this to be true... A very small knot was enough to impart really significant winding and thickness differences in three of the ten segments I've riven from an otherwise perfectly straight oak log.

It had been sat for 2 years that I know of in the round, ends sealed, bark on, around 25% mc (down from 38% when I aquired it), split fairly easily with a number of wedges which could pierce the full cross section of the log and a large sledge, using a hatchet as amake shift froe a few times.

 

[DuncanA]

Ok - thanks for the input guys. I might have to have another look at options to get it sawn up in that case. I've found another place reasonably near by which may do it. It's also lost enough water weight that I should be able to manhandle it into the back of a car now which should make life easier too. Though the neanderthal in me wants to dig a hole in the ground and try and get my hands on a pit saw and willing volunteer!

 

[Jelly]

Ok - thanks for the input guys. I might have to have another look at options to get it sawn up in that case. I've found another place reasonably near by which may do it. It's also lost enough water weight that I should be able to manhandle it into the back of a car now which should make life easier too. Though the neanderthal in me wants to dig a hole in the ground and try and get my hands on a pit saw and willing volunteer!

The oak framing trade association have a yearly event with pitsawing as one of many attractions...

No need for a pit though, you've always wanted to build some 6' high sawhorses, you just didn't know it until now.

(Given i'm currently taking my umpteenth break of the afternoon from resawing 4" oak segments into boards, I would strongly advocate taking it to a wee little mill somewhere with a wide-band resaw.)

 

[marcros]

are you actually going to be able to get any boards from this piece- it looks too split to me to get anything bigger than pen blanks from? even if a mill does it cheap for you, if you pay £10 or £20 fort being done, then I do not think that you will get the boards to cover the outlay.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I was thinking that but didn't like to say. I might crosscut the ends off to see where there are deep splits, then split along the existing cracks to make pieces suitable for spindle turning. You hopefully might get something bigger than a pen blank, but there will be a lot of firewood too.

Coming back to the original question, I wouldn't buy a froe for this job. A splitting wedge or even a bolster chisel might do. But if you do want to buy a froe, I'd go for the Gransfors one, which is made to work as a froe rather than just look like one.

 

[DuncanA]

I've been wondering the same really - I've never expected to get much out of this considering the rot. The two largest cracks go pretty much the whole way through the trunk and are full with this mossy sort of stuff, which made me think splitting or getting it cut radially may mean the splits are slightly less problematic. The smaller half is in a much better state, but there isn't that much there.

I might see if I can get a quote for getting it all sawn and see what they think of it but I'm now starting to think this may serve better as a sort of experimentation piece to learn some skills on - splitting etc. - without fear of wasting good wood.

I've got some splitting wedges already (I could do getting something to whack 'em with but I can justify that as a handy tool to have in the shed anyway!) so I may start with trying to split it along the rot to see what sort of state the wood is in and get a feel for how well it splits and go from there.