Building a "Burly" Cascade Stand in "Woodworking 101" by Dierk Neugebauer t was a cold January day not very long ago when David Johnson and Jeff Shortt arrived to put in some time on bonsai woodworking. Jeff came with two projects in hand: he was finishing a beautiful small tiger-striped maple bonsai stand that he had started some time before, and he was going to work on a dais (stand) for a beautiful suiseki stone he had acquired a while back. David was more ambitious. His projects numbered three! There was the shohin stand for small trees, a large circular stand out of walnut, and a small stand for a cascade made from a pine burl. My job was to see that they left with all ten fingers on their hands, and to help where possible. I also got to try out my new digital camera! Long ago I stopped trying to work on my own projects when friends were using my workshop. It must be said that both Jeff and David worked on all of the projects they brought along, but the main focus of the day for all of us was the cascade stand. The burl was about 10 inches in height, 2 wide and four deep. It was shaped somewhat like a crescent moon, and David wanted a cascade to sweep down the outer curve of the crescent shape. To accomplish this the base of the stand would have to be sanded down so that it remained standing at the appropriate angle, and so that it would not fall over when supporting the weight of a pot and tree. As you can see in the pictures which follow, David is carefully studying his angles and making his decisions. Then he takes charge of the burl and sands the bottom flat on the primitive belt sander I have.

In due course, the required flat surface was attained, and we were ready for the next problem, which was the mounting surface for the tree itself on the burl. The challenge here was to find a way to cut the top of the burl off so that its surface area paralleled the flat bottom - a tough task indeed. Time was of the essence; we did, after all, only have this one day! Finally the decision was made by David that creating an "L-shaped" platform to which the burl could be fastened for cutting would be both safe and functional. So we started with 2 pieces of scrap lumber and, using my trusty old hot glue gun, we managed to glue them together at a right angle so that the finished project, when seen from the side, looked,indeed, like the letter "L". In the picture below you see David trying out the burl in the "jig" we had made while I'm at the ready with the dripping glue gun, all set to apply the glue and fasten the burl into place. finally it was done - a too liberal coating of hot glue fastened the victim in place.

Now it was up to David. It's one thing to help, but quite another to take responsibility for potential disasters waiting in the wings. You can see from the pictures which follow how challenging the task was.

Here was the idea we put into motion: with the burl glued into place, we would use the band saw and its fence to provide a nice surface for sawing off the top of the burl. Our letter "L" jig, as you can see below, with burl in place, would ride against the fence - the saw would cut both the burl and part of the jig that it was attached to. The danger, of course, was that the saw might grab the burl and twist and tear it from the jig by too much enthusiasm on David's part. So the operative words were "caution!" Push gently! Slide slowly! Let the saw do the work! I didn't want to make David nervous.

At the end when all seemed to go as planned, as you can see, I helped to support the jig, just in case. Naturally my fingers would be safe. The next part, and I do regret my generous use of the hot glue gun, was to separate burl from jig. A trusty chisel and my wonderful wooden mallet were barely up to the task of separating the two. But, separated they eventually were!

The project now called for a little more sanding. The belt sander had to clean up the stubborn glue remnants on the bottom, and a little random orbital sander put the shine on the platform created on top of the burl. It looked quite nice with its 16 years of growing rings coming to life under the sander.

I have to admit, that the operation so far was pretty smooth, but now that it was basically finished, one had to be a little critical of the way the burl looked. Really, it was dull ... a dull brown, looking rather dirty as if someone had smeared a lot of clay all over it to hide the hopefully beautiful grain. What to do? How can you finish such an irregularly shaped surface? How could you make it look "nice?"

Jeff here came to the rescue. He took the small piece that was cut from the top of the burl and offered it to the finishing gods. It was clamped into the vise rather unceremoniously, and sanded with a flappy sandpaper affair that fits into an electric drill. It managed to clean up the high spots and give them a bit of a youthful look, and it even removed some of the gunk from the more recessed spots.

Next came the question of how to finish it, and what finishes might be appropriate and manageable. I dug out some penetrating finishes and Jeff went to work experimenting and all agreed that this was the route to go.

Well, that was that. It showed promise and held potential as well. David agreed! Without much ado, the probably unhappy burl was clamped unceremoniously into a vice and given a suitable massage with the floppy sander and drill.

At the end of the procedure, it did indeed look a lot better, and one could even believe that it might have a place as a bonsai stand one day. David wasted no time. No sooner was the sanding completed than he took brush in hand and rapidly applied a good coating of penetrating sealer to the burl. How it did start to shine!

Several coats later, after rubbing the excess finish off each time, the burl did, indeed, begin to look quite presentable.

Below you can see the newly created stand. All that's required now is a good coat or two of wax, and a lovely, little cascade in its miniature pot.

Well, David? When are you going to grace us with the finished stand, tree and all? Perhaps... Ah, the joys and pleasures of friends and a digital camera!