tree stalls

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

firstly sorry bout the lack of capitals but baby is asleep in arms so it's difficult to type!

Today at the end of my road a couple of trees were cut down - so i am now the proud owner of 6 lumps of tree trunk in my back garden, with the intention of using them as stalls for us all to sit on, the question is do i need to coat/varnish them? and if so what is the best/greenest thing to use on them, they will, when that part of the garden is sorted be on a gravel surface so will i have to treat both ends or just one?

Sorry if i'm being thick by asking - i blame baby hormones for sending my brain to mush (still)

thanks

sarahx

[old tree man]

It depends what kind of timber it is, if it is a hardwood (oak, ash,sycamore, ect) let it season naturally and slowly and it will last a long time untreated, if it is a softwood (pine, spruce, ect) it may split on you so we used to coat ours in a water based varnish (2-3 coats) which traps the moisture in the ring and stops it splitting.
all the best

Russ

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

Oh Bugger, knew I should have looked abit closer at what they were cutting down, never mind was planning on going back there tomorrow as they had a few still left to murder so was going to get them to cut me off a big round from the base of one to make a table top with, so will ask them what type they were then.

Stupid thing I walked past them a couple of times a week through the school term but now if you ask me I couldn't even tell you what colour the leaves were let alone what the tree was.

Thank you Russ for your help

Sarahx

[Ellendra]

If you can't dent them easily with your thumbnail, its probably a hardwood.