I have finished the box made from a damaged birch tree on my sons' property. He loved his birches. The box is a gift to my daughter-in-law. finished with 2 coats of brushed on varnish and 1 wipe on coat. The bark was finished using water based urethane.

 

 

Edited October 7, 20187 yr by It Was Al B

Beautiful Al...just magnificent. I love the contrast and symmetry between the live edge and finished pieces. The grain is so rich and full of character.

I'm sure you did, but just in case, you did sign and date it on the bottom I assume?

A great and lasting tribute to Michael!

WOW! I really like this. Keeping the bark was inspired!!!

Beautiful box. Great design. Excellent workmanship. As has been said, leaving the bark was brilliant. 

Beautiful! And truly unique.

John

I like it Al! Nice design.

Thanks all. I did sign and date it on the bottom Dave.

I like it that you left the bark on.  Nice work.

all of what was said and then some...

That is gorgeous Al

 Great looking box, a lot of heart went into that.

Great work Al. I wish we had Birch here in Tenn. What did you do about the moisture content?

 The tree was cut into short lengths, under 2' long. I ripped the short logs on my bandsaw into 2" + thick strips. I ran those pieces thru my little thickness planer for uniform thickness. After about 6 months drying, some warping and checking had occured, but not bad. I ran them thru the planer again and it was about a month before I eventually started the box.  Then cut the blocks into the pieces needed using my bandsaw and tablesaw. A final run thru the thickness planer to get the desired thicknesses for the box. 

The only drying was about 7-8 months of storage in my shop. I believe the short lengths helped speed up the drying. The pieces were stickered to allow air on all sides.