Wood Working- Live Edge Slabs

first it to figure if the tree has enough width for your planned project. I’d recommend cutting the tree where you are able to get the longest straightest section of the trunk. If you want let’s say a 8 foot table over cut the section to around 10 foot or so. As the tree dries it may produces checking and having a longer section than desired may give you the ability to cut off the checking it it happens. To store the log before cutting into slabs you want to paint the ends with a latex paint. May need to do several coats. Put in in a place where you can cover it. When cutting the slabs, you want to make sure your 2 center slabs are on either side of the pith of the tree. Air drying slabs is roughly 1 year per inch of thickness to get moisture content around 10-12%. Example a 3” slab would take roughly 3 years to dry. Once you have your slab cut, keep them in order and place the first slab off the ground and place stickers(1x1 wood strips) every 16 inches down the board and then place the next slab on top of that. Repeat the process for each board. You want there to be air flow around and through the slabs.

The reason for keeping the slabs in order as you cut them, is if your tree isn’t wide enough for say a 40” table, then you can book match two consecutive board together to achieve you desired width.

Kiln dried vs air dried is a personal preference. Kiln would be faster but you would need to find a place that does this regularly or you may end up with a piece of firewood. Plus there would be added expense. Air dying gives the wood better color and workability and makes wood more
stable. Kiln dried wood will lose some of its color.

It all comes down if you want to build something quicker or wait.

I have several slabs from years ago and had better results on the logs/slabs that I used anchorseal on versus the ones I used latex paint on.

jetjock07 said:

first it to figure if the tree has enough width for your planned project.

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The slab in the photo at the bottom of his post is three pieces of wood joined together to make that width, though, isn't it?

Malum Prohibitum said:

The slab in the photo at the bottom of his post is three pieces of wood joined together to make that width, though, isn't it?

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Looks like a solid slab. They used bow ties to keep it from cracking anymore

You can waste a ton of time milling, drying, planing and finishing the slab and it’s still probably going to end up warping like crazy. Huge slabs just aren’t stable and pecan is more prone to warping than a lot of other hardwoods.

I’d forget about the slab idea and mill it. It’d suck spending all that time (maybe money too) only to have it twist up like a pretzel on you.

Good luck either way.

NFAJohn said:

What about milling it and stabilizing with epoxy.

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Even with epoxy, an uncured slab will do it's thing.

Be sure to seal the ends and reseal once in a while. Stickers between slabs for air flow and then add weight on top. Try to place the whole shooting match where it never sees direct sunlight but has good airflow. Even a small box fan left on will be plenty. Watch for termites and ants and bees. Permethrin keeps most of that away, spray it liberally on whatever you have it standing on the ground with. I'd even spray the wood itself because you are going to be milling that outer layer away anyway. Permethrin works to keep the scorpions away, too. You are looking at letting it dry for a few years, depending on thickness. You can measure the moisture with an instrument but I don't remember what that thing was called.

I was visiting with a guy one time who has done stuff like this before and he figure a year for every inch of thickness. I've never tried it but the same guy said to cover it with dry straw to help pull the moisture out of it?

NFAJohn said:

What about milling it and stabilizing with epoxy.

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You can coat it in epoxy, but you can’t really stabilize it without a high pressure chamber and a few thousand dollars worth of epoxy. This works for gun/knife scales but is cost prohibitive for something like a table top.

I’m not sure what you expect from the finished product. As far as I’m concerned, if a tabletop isn’t flat it’s a shitty table. If you’re really into “the look” and don’t care about a little warping then have at it and post pics when you finish.

They do look cool.