De-barking and polishing a ficus branch

[Federico Mena Quintero]

A couple of years ago, while visiting another town, the local tree service was pruning ficus trees on the sidewalk. I managed to grab a nice chunk of one branch, about 10 cm in diameter and a bit short of 1 m long. It has been sitting on my shop since then.

Recently I promised my uncle to make a stand for his aikido uniform - think of a coat stand but with enough "arms" to support the waist and chest pieces, helmet, etc. Originally I wanted to make a simple and square upright post, but then I remembered about that ficus branch. If I could de-bark it and polish the result, it could lead to a nice, natural shape for the post itself.

Has anyone done this with reasonably dry wood? Probably every species is different in how hard the bark clings to the wood. I guess I'd need a drawknife. But then how does one polish the irregular branch? It's pretty straight, and just has bumps and crevices from a few branches / knots, and I'd like to preserve those if possible. I guess sandpaper and some concave scrapers?

Thanks for any advice!

[David Weaver]

flap wheel of sandpaper after you get the bark off, that'd be my thought.

A large flap wheel (or set of grits, I guess), from coarse to fine. It won't affect the knots. If you want a finer finish, rig up something to burnish the surface after you're done sanding, or rub pine scrap against it.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Excellent ideas, David, thanks! And this is the perfect excuse to get a flap wheel - always wanted to play with one of those.