Rustic Stump End Tables

7 Materials
$10
2 Days
Medium
There's nothing like natural elements to make your home decor feel warm and welcoming! You can add those elements with flowers, greenery, a water feature, or natural wood furniture and accessories like these end tables made from tree stumps.
Watch the video for full details!


Sign up for our email list to get our new projects in your inbox.
We sourced our logs from my neighbor who lost a tree during a hurricane. Look for logs that are cut into manageable size pieces and ones that are flat on the top and bottom.
After allowing the logs to air dry for 10 months we were ready to start removing the bark. This can be done manually with a chisel or mechanically with a rotary hammer and tile chisel.
A chain saw would have been the first tool of choice, but ours wimped out! We used a Makita reciprocating saw with a Milwaukee 9" cutting blade to cut the end straight.
Once the bark is removed, you're left with a lot of woody fibers that take a lot of effort to remove. We tried using a wire cup attached to a Makita drill/driver to help remove some of the fibers prior to sanding.
The long tedious sanding process moves from 60 grit (or smaller if you can find it) up to 220 grit. All is needed to remove the remaining fibers and to smooth the grain. We also sanded with 320 grit paper between coats of poly and epoxy.
We made two tables. One we filled and covered with epoxy to finish.
The second we finished with a brush on clear poly.
One of the logs had some metal in it, which looks neat in the final table.
What do you think of these stump end tables? Would you DIY this or buy? Let us know in the comments below!


For more detail please visit our website.
Suggested materials:
  • Stump
  • Epoxy
  • Poly
See all materials
Mother Daughter Projects
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  3 questions
  • Angela Angela on Jun 22, 2017

    What type/brand of epoxy did you use for the stump?

  • Desiree Desiree on Jun 22, 2017

    I think you came up with a great idea to do with left over logs. I'm sure you can come up with more ideas. Keep on rocking, I would buy one, but I have a lot of logs to.

  • Darrel Bickel Darrel Bickel on Jun 22, 2017

    Why did you not just use a draw knife to remove the bark? Also with a 2-3 foot stump one could level it with an outer frame and a sled for a router that would ride on same.

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 32 comments
Next