When to remove bark?

[cody mcclung]

This is my first post here so I hope this is going in the right place. I recently purchased a peice of walnut from a local shop and have been working on sanding it down for a coffee table. Its about 2 inches thick and about 50inx30in. There was already some bark missing from the slab when I got it and one of the sides had a few places that the bark just pulled off pretty easy. The rest of the bark on the slab is hanging on pretty well. I want to take all the bark off to make it uniform but I didnt know when I should do that in my process of preparing the slab. I have already sanded with a belt sander to get as many of the imperfections out as I can before I start hand sanding (my tools are very limited). So I guess my question is when and how should I take the bark off? And how do you prep the sides of the slab without bark to maintain the "live-edge" look? Sorry if this is an ambiguous question but I wanted some expert advice so I thought I would try here before i get too far into the project and really screw something up. -Cody

[Frank Drew]

Welcome to the board, Cody. I think you'll find that members here are very generous sharing their experience and advice.

I'd get the bark off now since it tends to harbor insects and will probably fall off on its own eventually, anyway, so go ahead and strip it the best you can. You can treat the wane edge as any other wood -- sand well then finish along with the rest of the slab. There will be a color difference due to the sapwood but you no doubt know that already.

[Montgomery Scott]

If it's dry then you can take it off any time. If it's fresh cut and not dry you risk severe checking if you pull the bark off, though it is a lot easier to pull off.

[David Helm]

I do a lot of work with live edge slabs. Definitely remove the bark for the reasons that others have said. I find that the best bark removing tool is a draw knife. It doesn't have to be particularly sharp because you are not trying to cut into the wood. After most of the bark and cadmium is gone you can use a flap sander (chuck it in a corded power drill) to get rid of the leftovers. I then use a pad sander (PC-330) to get into as many of the crevices as I can. It's okay to leave some color as that enhances the look.