Getting Plugs From Logs

[Pavel314]

This isn't exactly a home repair but someone in this group probably knows the carpentry techniques or tools to use. I have a shiitake mushroom garden in the basement; they grow in oak logs and have been producing well for about a half-year now.

What I would like to do is to remove some plugs from these logs and use them to innoculate new logs with mushroom spawn by inserting the plugs into holes drilled into the new logs. The plugs should be about

1/4 to 5/16 inch in diameter and about an inch long. Is there some sort of tool or attachment to an electric drill that will do this?

Paul

[dadiOH]

Plug cutters are available in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2", other sizes too. They are used to cut plugs that are about 3/8" deep; best used in a drill press but can be done by hand.

There are also plug cutters that will cut deeper. Not cheap and you need a drill press

[Pavel314]

Thank you, just what I was looking for.

Paul

[KC]

I guess I'm missing something here. Plug cutter cuts vertically down into the log, but what causes the center of the plug to separate from the log. Just twists off? The grain of some woods might not allow that.

[aemeijers]

hand.http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11486&filter=plug%20cutter>>

You can try making your own. Not hard if you have a lathe- just sharpen one end of a stick of steel tube, cross-drill the other end, and put a bar through it to twist with. Not like you are trying to drill through the donor logs- you just need to get about 1/2" to 3/4" in, right? Maybe put a few tiny notches in the sharp end to give it some bite. Wax it inside and out to make it able to penetrate easier. If your wrists are not up to twisting, use a slightly thicker pipe, and just drive it in with a mallet. May want to have a drive cap on it, and a rod to punch the plugs back out. If you don't have a lathe, it is a little harder, but some patient work with a grinder and hand file should still give a usable cutting tool. Unless you have some way to harden it, the edge will need touchups pretty often.

Any leather working stores in your area? The punches they sell for thick leather may be sturdy and deep enough.

[DD_BobK]

the plugs are easily broken off, wood is very weak in cross grain tension

[dadiOH]

A. pop them out with a screwdriver

B. bandsaw off the back...especially useful if the plug is long grain and hard to break off..