table top slabs

[treevet]

Got some honkers in my lot and got the 60" bar on my big saw and was thinking about cutting some slabs off a 50' dia red oak honker I got in my lot.

Any advice on keeping it from not checking? It always happens and ruins them. I was thinking about using a metal banding machine and torquing a couple of bands around it.

Anybody got any picts of big round table tops. No Alaskan saw mill goes this big I have seen. Thought about fabbing something that would keep the cut a consistent width.

 

[deeker]

Paint the ends, Anchorseal, wax, latex paint. Get 'em painted....and cut them at least six inches longer than you will expect to use them.

Won't fix all the end checking....but reduce how bad it is....by 80+%.

 

[treevet]

Paint the ends, Anchorseal, wax, latex paint. Get 'em painted....and cut them at least six inches longer than you will expect to use them.

Won't fix all the end checking....but reduce how bad it is....by 80+%.

thanks deeks but these slabs are gonna be about 5 inches thick by 50 " diameter. should I paint the entire 50" face on both sides with stuff? I guess I should cut them 6" over then? Gonna be a tough re cut.

 

[deeker]

thanks deeks but these slabs are gonna be about 5 inches thick by 50 " diameter. should I paint the entire 50" face on both sides with stuff? I guess I should cut them 6" over then? Gonna be a tough re cut.

Paint the ends. You want the water to leave via the sides. It goes out slower that way.

 

[treevet]

Paint the ends. You want the water to leave via the sides. It goes out slower that way.

you don't think tight banding will have any impact?

 

[deeker]

you don't think tight banding will have any impact?

Well, yes.

Rust.

Or the fact of physics.....the action reaction thing....plus it forces out the water in the fibers where the tension is at its highest.

And it does not lend well to preventing warping like stickers and weights.

Keep it from all direct sunlight....sometimes....if it is drying too fast I will water it down. The outside fibers open back up to relase the water trapped in the innermost fibers.

 

[Toddppm]

Sounds like you're cutting big fat cookies right? I think Deeker is thinking you're cutting slabs and paint the ends. With cookies I'm not sure there's anyway to help except cutting them real thick and then re-saw a couple years down the road.

 

[treevet]

I agree Todd, and while I have a number of 10 foot plus by 50" dia. logs as deek says it would be best to paint the ends and....wait for water to go out through the bark.

That would probably take a decade. I may be in a nursing home by then. So my idea was to not allow the expansion by banding with stainless banding material.

Wonder if I cut it in half then mill it lengthways. That would take a lot of interest out tho imo. Roger B. listed a wood guy's site a few years ago. I will pm andd see if he still has it and get back when he gets back.

 

[SDB777]

Remember, a crack is something to pack torquise powder/CA into and make that slab go from "That's kinda cool." to "Holy crap! I need that....let me get my wallet!"



Anchorseal is my best friend.




Scott

 

[treevet]

Remember, a crack is something to pack torquise powder/CA into and make that slab go from "That's kinda cool." to "Holy crap! I need that....let me get my wallet!"



Anchorseal is my best friend.

haha you know at those street festivals if you cut some cookies you are artsie fartsie and people will buy anything. If you dropped a steamer on the pavement you could sell it for art lol.

 

[airman]

cracks can add character

 

[brookpederson]

I had a guy stop in our shop a couple of week ago to buy some anchorseal, he was doing something like this, but not as big. He claimed that you cut your rounds, or cookies, then make one cut from the bark to the pith. Then when it dryes it opens up only allong that cut instead of cracking. He said once dryed they look like pac-man, a circle with a pie shaped wedge. Once the rounds are dry he would cut wedges of the same kind of wood and glue them in so it matches.
Kind of a lot of work if you ask me, and he didn't have any pics so who knows how well it works. I was going to try it on some 12" to 14" black walnut and if it works make stool tops out of them

 

[littlenick]

What about heavy duty straps?

 

[treevet]

good advice Brook I am going to keep a notebook on ideas

That is what I had in mind with the banding with the ratcheting banding machine Nick but any kind of strap seems like it would work but maybe not as you don't see any in the pro's shop....

Didn't hear back from Roger but found the site myself. Check out the slideshow. Takes about a half hour I think.

http://www.urbanhardwoods.com/

 

[littlenick]

Those are some real nice looking tables!

 

[treevet]

I agree and we all have had plenty of these but it seems to me this one is going to crack. Maybe I will email them and see if they will share some secrets.

 

[treevet]

This one too. Looks it should have broke but almost looks like it is beyond breaking now.

Essentially, you have just taken a stump, made a very precise cut and done some sanding and putting a finish and some legs ....and sold it for maybe $300 or $400 is my guess.

 

[burlman]

what kind of tree are these cookies coming off of?

 

[burlman]

what type of tree are you sliceing these cookies of of?

 

[treevet]

Currently a 52" dia. red oak (not pin oak). Nice and round.