Title says it all. I need to replace a 4x4 post. Holding up the front porch over roof. I want to use a stripped and stained Cedar tree trunk.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Title says it all. I need to replace a 4x4 post. Holding up the front porch over roof. I want to use a stripped and stained Cedar tree trunk.

I'm guessing you want to remove the bark so you can stain it?

There is a tool that you can buy or make to do it (curved draw knife) but it will leave some marks on the exterior of the post but you can get a lot of the bark off with a pressure washer. Pressure washer has it's own downsides tho. Messy as heck and it can destroy the outer sap layer you want to stain. Even a big knife like a bayonet or short machete will work but man, it's hard on your hands. Get a cheap machete, put a good edge on it on the lower 12" (the handle end) then wrap a bunch of duct tape or elec tape for your other hand to be cushioned beyond the sharp 12" and use it as a draw knife.
Then let it dry good. The big problem comes from where the branches were cut off. Knots.

IF, it is a newly cut log, the bark comes off a lot easier if you do it soon after sawing it down.
No matter what tho, the knots where the branches were are problematic.

IOW, There is no easy, fast way to do it.

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 04-13-2023).]

It would prob strip with a belt sander and 50 grit. Go to 80 and buzz down the knots.. I’ve done Christmas tree trunks like that….makes a good walking stick.

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quote Originally posted by maryjane: IOW, There is no easy, fast way to do it.

Don, you know the "roughneck" in me is screaming sacrilege. This should be as easy as peeling a banana, no harder than shucking corn.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: I'm guessing you want to remove the bark so you can stain it? There is a tool that you can buy or make to do it (curved draw knife) but it will leave some marks on the exterior of the post but you can get a lot of the bark off with a pressure washer. Pressure washer has it's own downsides tho. Messy as heck and it can destroy the outer sap layer you want to stain. Even a big knife like a bayonet or short machete will work but man, it's hard on your hands. Get a cheap machete, put a good edge on it on the lower 12" (the handle end) then wrap a bunch of duct tape or elec tape for your other hand to be cushioned beyond the sharp 12" and use it as a draw knife. Then let it dry good. The big problem comes from where the branches were cut off. Knots. IF, it is a newly cut log, the bark comes off a lot easier if you do it soon after sawing it down. No matter what tho, the knots where the branches were are problematic.

As usual, good information, !

I just got back from Bandera picking up the subject of interest. While on my truck, just for giggles, I started picking at the bark, much as one would pick at a scab. Wow ! It peeled right off easily, and surprise. The hue of the new surface was excellent. I may not have to stain it.

I would not have thought sap was a good medium for staining. As far as knots, they add patina. There is one left over from a branch which was cut off, about 1 and a half feet. It's at a 45 degree angle. My idea is to bore out the center and use it as a flag holder.

I had to use my tractor to load it up. Now I need to unload it and place it on saw horses, without my tractor. I have a plan, .

quote Originally posted by cliffw: I had to use my tractor to load it up. Now I need to unload it and place it on saw horses, without my tractor. I have a plan, .

Does that plan involve explosives and trajectory calculations ?

quote I would not have thought sap was a good medium for staining.

I said sap layer but should have been more specific. A tree has what is called sapwood, but that is older mostly inactive wood in the interior of the trunk (and even in the limbs) .
The sap layer I was referring to is usually called the cambium layer. That's the thin layer just inside the bark usually no more than an inch thick and is the active vascular part of the tree where nutrients (sap) go up to the branches and leaves and energy goes down to be stored in the roots. It's the most colorful part of the cedar trunk after it has dried. You don't want to damage that layer any more than necessary.
All the rest of the interior trunk is older cambium or sapwood that has grown ring after ring each year, is mostly inactive and just provides strength.
(Also the cambium part is where you would inject or spray herbicide if you want to kill a tree or a freshly cut stump)

Cedars are odd, especially in Texas and the Southwest. In East Texas, if you cut a 6" cedar down and make post out of it, it will rot out in a couple of years because there is so much rainfall. It's not the rain that rots it tho, it's the rate of growth the rain allows for. They grow so fast, that they only develop a little thin red heart and all the rest is soft white looking cambium that rots quickly. Cedar and juniper that grow here in central and west Texas where it's dry, grow slower and develop a thick red hard heart and last for decades as posts.