It's been many years, but I have stopped the paint bleeding on wood by using a Dremel or wood burner to make a 'trench' around my design prior to painting. Gives the design more definition, too.

I wonder if pre-stain conditioner would help. It is good to use on soft woods. It helps the wood take a more uniform stain and helps to eliminate blotches and streaks. I know for sure that Minwax brand sells it. Check at your local home improvement store. I bet that would really make a difference for staining on that rough type of wood.

The paw print does look cool though. I'm not sure if I'm sizing it differently but it looks like a bear print. lol

whiteoak...My DH cut some for me when we lost our huge tree out front & replaced it with an arbor we call our bird sanctuary. I just left them natural & put mulch around them...gets lots of birdseed around them, too.

I know they won't last ...but they made it one yr. anyway...the rim of bark has come off most of them...and the stepping stones are looking a bit petrified. This pic is Nov 08 when we built it:

{{gwi:130007}}

BTW, the birds love the sanctuary & we are so happy they stayed with us...with the big old Maple tree gone!
Jeanne S.

I love the look of these. I wonder if there is any way to preserve them? We are cutting down some trees this winter.
I have some of the fake ones made out of cement and people think they are "real" even tho they are a rather un natureal pink color.
kathy

I did the wooden step stones one year. I wasn't imaginative enough to put the paw print on there. I LOVE THAT IDEA. I had to heavily paint my wood pieces a couple of times in wood preservative/stain.They looked amazing. However they only lasted a couple of years.

I treated the tree slices with a sealer before I painted the print. Luna is right on. It does look like a bear print because the stencil I used was too big and plus the paint bled further on the wood. I'm going to use curbdriver's suggestion and try again with a smaller pattern. Thx all!

That must have been one BIG dog! :>)

I really like the idea. Wonder if there would be some way to preserve them, so they'd last more than one or even two years?

Rusty

Perhaps you can give this a try:

Use thin sheet metal to make a template, then use a blow torch to char the design in the wood.

This should give you a design that will last for years.

dcarch