Nice, I made something similar but kept the bark and finished the top with a thick coat of poly. I don’t have a belt sander or hand plane so I used some 2x4 and straight edges to make a very large router flattening jig to smooth out the top. Freehand sawing the logs in half with just a string as a guide makes a much smoother surface than the 2x4 rail guide that you bolt onto the bar, I tried both. A channel called Advoko Makes has a freehand milling video, pretty useful if you don’t have a jig.
Nice job! I did something very similar except with water oak. It’s holding up well, it’s been outside over a year and no rotting. I may sand it down and coat the bench with oil or poly
Thanks for the question! The wood is Douglas Fir and yes you have to worry about cracking. I do have a solution though…anything I chainsaw carve or cut up I leave outside and let it age/dry naturally. We don’t get too much sun we here we live (At least not desert sun) in Washington so anything the wood seems to not crack if just left outside. Anything that I’ve had dry too fast always cracked. Also I try and stay away from fresh green wood as much as possible but that’s usually tough to do. Good luck and thanks for the interest in my channel!
