What would ScottR do out of this?

[Bizman62]

I've had this piece laying in my back yard for quite a many years. Actually it was part of a 1.5 m log which my wife finally wanted to get rid of as firewood. So I cut three pieces of firewood and chopped them, seeing that the wood was still hard below the very surface. I believe it's goat willow since the logs snapped and sparkled in my sauna oven.

Now as the title says, I would be interested to know what a skilled carver like @ScottR could make out of such a block.

 

[ScottR]

Wow.

I'd cut that right about where your cut line is and smooth and polish the cut part.

Then I'd set it on the coffee table, cut part down. That is too cool to change.

I'm sure I'd be tempted to carve something out of the part below the cut though.

If the bottom twists like this part, there ought to be some cool figure locked up inside.

SR

[Bizman62]

That's all there is to see, about 30 cm. The rest was straight grain. The line at the bottom came from the bumper spikes of the chainsaw. And it's cut at both ends, that was in the middle of a trunk.

[mistermikev]

every time I have to carve or scrape... I ask myself... what would scott r do.  thinking about getting a tatoo of him on my chest so I can just pull open my collar and ask him when in doubt (hehe)!

I think that stump should be carved into a cobra with it's mouth open and forked tongue waving at me...

[Workingman]

Bird in a nest maybe?

[Bizman62]

Should I try to get rid of the moss or just seal it under some matte finish so it would stop growing and spreading pollen?

[Bizman62]

Thanks for the tips! I ended up seating it over the entrance of my BBQ roof.

Used the chainsaw to seat it neatly, a couple of screws might be required. Sanding or at least planing the ends and applying some oil may end up on my to-do list. And I should have left a bit more of stem on the upper side now that I see where it sits. I should have asked before cutting...

[ScottR]

Man, that is a pretty thought provoking piece of wood. And the mental images it brings to mind are scattered across the spectrum.

One option that occurred to is sand some of the rough surface below the weathering while leaving much of the cracks and fissure weathered and then coating the entire thing with poly.

SR

[Drak]

That's Jesus diving down the Portal To Hades to give Satanion a little what-fer.

Either that, or its the Shroud of Turin folded in half...text a pic to the Pope, see what he says.

[MiKro]

I would have carved a horned owls head in there.

MK

[Bizman62]

8 hours ago, MiKro said:

I would have carved a horned owls head in there.

Something like that kept me from chopping the log into firewood. My carving skills would not make justice to what Mother Nature already had done so I left it as is.