apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Do people really want to sit on stumps through a whole meal? Won't these things weigh a ton?

You'd want to seal the stumps, not against insects as much as sap leaking which would spoil the paint.

The wood needs to cure before you can bring it inside and subject it to central heating.

I have a painted stump chair. I made it last year and haven't had any problems with insects... Make sure the wood is dry and looks healthy.

Low, fabric-covered square stools on casters would also be a solution for the seating issue.

I can give you my personal observations of tree stumps and such from 13 years of using wood as a heat source in our house. The type of tree (wood), does lend itself to some unique aging and insect problems. The source of your wood acquisition and the way the wood was stored can also invite rot and insects. In short, yes you can still have wood borer beetle deep in a stump if you don't what to look for and most folks don't know what termite damage in a tree looks like. I don't know much about sealing or curing whole stumps for furniture making but most artisans have some sort of a seasoning area (usually a climate controlled shed or barn), before starting any projects.
Hope you get more tips!

I'm stumped.

Just kidding.

I think the trickiest part would be getting stumps that are relatively consistent.

You may have to get them from a tree that needs to be cut down.

First, I'd sand them.

Then, I'd KILZ 'em.

Then, I'd enamel the hee haw out of 'em. Maybe three or four coats.

Are you in Chicago?

I would then make a template of the top of one or more stumps and take that template to Torstenson Glass so that they can make a glass top for one or more of the stumps to be used as end tables. Of course, you may want to put felt feet on the glass or use some sort of feet that will inconspicuously hold the glass in place.

i really don't like this whole stump thing.

Stumps are incredibly heavy! And, yes, prone to things like rot and insect infestation. I don't think you should use found ones, but I like the general idea. I've seen quite a few contemporary takes on this, in varying prices. I'd look around some more.

just because it sounds like you might be getting some flack, i'm going to pipe in and be optimistic. i think you should go for it! these kind of quirky ideas sometimes have to be brought to fruition before people go, "oh...that's kind of cool. wish i'd done it."

how i'd bring it about is i'd look at tree stump furniture online and take notes about what kind of species are being used. then i'd research getting my hands on that stuff. if it seems like a dead end after a while (or prohibitively expensive), i'd do a "for now" version with pieces cut from fallen trees. i'm guessing you could get in good with a tree removal service and ask for their waste before they grind it up into mulch. yes, the wood does need to cure, so if you go this route, it'll be a while before you get to use it. put each stump in a dry place protected from rain (outside under cover is okay) and make sure you put it up on blocking not directly on the ground (strips of 1x's will do). as the wood cures, you can make a judgment about how the bark is going to hold up. if you think it'll start crumbling, strip the bark off. as for cure length, i'd research that online. maybe use firewood as your guide. when your curing is done, yes, i would seal it. several coats. then put on your casters and see how you like it.

if you can't wait that long, then you can buy premade ones. there's all kinds being sold as stools and side tables. all most all of them would easily take casters, i think.

newly cut stumps/logs can take a reeeeeeeally long time to 'dry out'.

thats my only advice.

I was thinking you could find a stump shape that is perfect and then make several castings of it. That will take care of the pest and sap problem. Make some extras for your friends, I think they'd be wonderful.

However, I can't think of a material to make them out of that would be sufficiently lighter then wood to make the project practical and yet have enough strength to carry the weight. Maybe someone else will have a good idea.

I'm in the midst of a similar project. I have 3 stumps that I brought into my apartment last fall from a big elm tree.

I put them out on the balcony and covered them for the winter. Some sap drained from them and the bark started coming off in slabs. Two weeks ago I scraped the remaining bits of bark off, which was loose and flaky by now. Then I lightly sanded the stumps and I vacuumed the surfaces a few times, which got little bits of debris out of some of the small cracks.

Now the stumps are inside my apartment.

I'm going to stain them lightly with a natural-looking amber/ honey colored stain to give them some depth, since the wood is very pale now. But I want to keep the finish as natural-looking as possible.

I also thought about dormant insects that might be inside. I'm going to take a chance that there aren't any -- so far, I haven't seen any evidence.

The stumps in the picture are from a smooth bark tree or had bark removed, just an observation.

I don't really love this look but i'd see if i could find pre-aged stumps from firewood sellers. then i'd put them in a garage (got one?) and drop a bug bomb in there, Then i'd bust off the bark and killz and paint the stumps. i think you can get a very similar result as the photos w/DIY.

art-

that is too weird... i haven't dealt with torstenson in years, and i've been dealing with them all day today for glass i need.

too funny!

kismet

what if you get splinters in your @$$?

One stump is fun and good for conversation, but a whole dining room full of stumps? Look for some smaller dining chairs and remember, you don't have to keep them all around the table, you can scatter them about the house---fetch to the table as needed.

Am I the only one who read that as "Do I need to steal the stumps"?

There are ready made ones, like the ones here:
http://casasugar.com/tags/stool

Your best bet would be to find a lumber kiln willing to handle the stumps. They will "bake" the stumps and other lumber while extracting the ambient moisture, rendering the wood stable (less likely to crack/split, will maintain a finish) and less likely to contain living bugs.

A typical 2 inch thick slab of fresh tree can take more than a year to air dry down to a stable moisture content - a slab, who knows how long?

Of course, if you coated the whole things with epoxy, there's no way the buggers could get out anyway!

no you're not, sarahj. I was imagining sneaking into someone's yard in the middle of the night to steal their stumps. glad I wasn't the only one! I like stump chairs or stools as an accent, but I think they would be uncomfortable for dining.

Very heavy indeed, at least for chairs. Math time. Assuming a stump is 20" high and a modest 16" diameter circle in profile (which is pretty small for a round chair given the size of modern American rear ends), each stump takes up 2.37 cubic feet of wood.

According to wood density info on http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_wood.htm, each stump would weigh - depending on the type of wood, e.g.:

Light Canadian Pine stump chair: 51.8 pounds
Light Oak stump chair: 87.3 pounds

Other common woods like elm or maple, and heavier grades of pine and oak, would weigh a LOT more.

Also, if you got stumps only "slightly" larger - say 18" diameter, it would be MUCH heavier. (2.95 cubic feet, i.e. 25% heavier than listed above). Have fun.

You can also check Urban Hardwoods:
http://www.urbanhardwoods.com

Under "furniture" then "more furniture" you'll find stump small tables.

I'd try out something different, maybe with the reclaimed wood TABLE and getting some funky tractor seat stools, pick your price:

$34.99
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10118419

$649.00
http://www.hausmodernliving.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ItemID=419

Those give you the ability to adjust the height (that's good, only the IKEA one), are on wheels (good), and give a sense of a "back" by positioning your body in good form.

Have to share these, which is mostly off topic.

What is this "bronco stool"...and does it vibrate? ;)
http://tinyurl.com/2odkz2

And this "painter's stool", are painters shaped differently?
http://www.discountart.com/store/chairs&stools.html

I think someone should get some of those odd shapes and have a candid camera on, as people try to figure out which way to sit on them.

renngrrl, I beg you---HOW do you make castings of tree stumps? Or of any [pretty large] thing? I've yearned to be able to do this for years.

I have access to tree stumps that's almost infinite, due to a neighbor. He has a "woodpile" that's actually a work of art--stumps and limbs cut into apprx 2-ft lengths and fitted and piled beautifully along our lane for about 50 yards and as high as 10 feet! His policy is Help Yourself. I've used his stumps for random seating around my fire bowl and throughout the garden. After way too much weighing of pros and cons, I just dragged some inside for stools. I put velvet pillow wafers atop them all, each pillow custom fitted to its stump. I was not disappointed with the effect! Various bugs came out for a while and were dealt with. No big deal. Until the night a giant spider the size of a quarter zoomed across my chest as I lay reading in bed. No more incidents since he went bye--bye, though.

I think it boils down to how fastidious one is. (I, clearly, am not very.) I love your idea of mellowing them out with amber stain.

WOW!!

I am away from the internet one day and I have a FLOOD of comments!
Sorry for not responding to everyone previously, I was out celebrating my Anniversary with my dear husband (awwww)!

Thank you all so much for your advice, words of wisdom, concerns, math problems and google-fu!

I will put these ideas to the drawing board and see what I come up with, and be sure to send everyone pictures!

I am in Kansas City (Chicago AT is the closest thing to cool we have around here).... and I posted an ad on Craigslist asking for people who had trees fallen or logs/stumps already cut that I might be able to use.
I had a RIDICULOUS amount of responses, so if anyone else is considering this, just post up an ad, people were even willing to pay me to come take the large chunks of wood from them!!

My thoughts in making the stump chairs, were simple... first off, being a new homeowner, most of my resources are going to flipping certain aspects of it, as well as making an art studio out back, so I was hoping to make a relatively "free/inexpensive" chair style into our space for as little cash as possible right now.
Thinking, that after a year or so and we were tired of sitting on stumps, assuming they were sealed correctly, I would wheel them outside to the deck or backyard for some fun in the sun! Or if kept inside they could be used as stools or side seating that would look funky and fun while they aren't being used.

I will address a few more comments a bit later, the grocery store is calling my name! Thanks again everyone!

Just a friendly fyi, when camping last summer there were signs all over the place in the Illinois/Michigan area not to transport wood from one place to another because of dangerous wood boring insect infestations, the main one being the Asian Longhorned Beetle.

I don't know where you're planning on retrieving your stumps from, but I'm thinking old house, wood frame...wheels turning...
:)

A perfect topic to "log in" on. Aesthetics aside, if you consider a leisurely meal to be one of the important rituals of daily life, please consider the total absence of comfort in a set of backless stumps.

I never tried this but I know you can make a mold from laytex and then use reinforced fiberglass to make the seats.. Look they use fiberglass for cars and they are fine... I would try and google latex mold how to make and get the idea.. then i would find one stump i really like and make the mold and then the chair...you could make severall all the same and they are light in fiberglass.

I think those stumps look really fun, especially for interim seating. Make sure to get some big ones that can be comfortable for big rear ends.

If you have a stump that's been outside for about a year since cutting, I'd say go ahead, strip the bark off, leave for a few weeks indoors in a dry area to let all the bugs wake up and get out, then seal, paint, and strip. It sounds like it wouldn't be the end of the world if you got a few splits.

I took a healthy-looking log in to my basement that was about a year old, for a cat tree. I was super worried about bugs, but none ever materialized. That I could see. I also had some fears about curing the wood (the log was about a year old) but it did not warp, split, or bend at all in the three years since I made my cat tree. Which, btw, was hideously ugly and has recently been gifted to someone with a fatter cat than mine.

My biggest problem was cutting the bottom off completely square. With a long, twisted log it was surprisingly difficult to find the center of gravity on the vertical axis.

I have a limited space in my dining room as well and I have a mix of chairs that when not in use sit around the livign room. Two chairs that we use when we have extra guests are stools. They are absolutely the most uncomfortable thing to sit in, so before you make any decisions on changing your chairs - try sitting thru a meal in a stool, and then imagine a stump...

I don't think you should cast them, but the way to make fake would be to build them out of foam and then coat them with fiberglass or something more eco-friendly. Cut a wood base for the foam so you can attach your casters after the fiberglass

pros -
design your own stumps
add in a seat pan?
light weight
no risk of bugs or sap

cons -
not real stumps
more expensive

if you do it right, prepping the stumps may take as much time as doing the fiberglass. The stumps need to cure and may end up splitting 8 months into the curing process (air drying a stump can take at least a year in a space designed for it)

Another thought - rather than using the whole stump, use just a natural slice of the tree and make a nice base. Get 6 consecutive cuts so each seat is slightly different from the next but still recognizable as being from the same tree.

Good luck, send pics when you're done!

Not a useful comment, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents.... I stayed at a place in Wyoming that had stumps at the table. (This was so long ago that I can't even recall the name of the place, and even if I could, they might not even exist anymore.) The stumps were too cute and with gorgeous pillows made to measure were comfortable enough on the bum for extended meals .

I think it's so much fun that you are being so adventurous with your design. And if it doesn't work, it's not as though you spent goo-gobs of money on the project. Good luck!