Yahoo! ... uh oh ... Hmmm

[Joe Judge]

I recently score some wood (first real free, raw wood scores): cherry and maple. Cherry picts posted in Turning forum.

So, here are the emotions and thoughts:

Yahoo! -- complete "slice" of a tree 12-14" thick and about 2 ft in diameter; bark around, creamy maple colored; center of the slice has a lighter/whiter circle of wood, with a 4" diameter mineral stain 'ring'

Uh oh -- An outstanding demi-lune table project comes to mind, but don't want to halve that nice circle of wood. So, I'll make a full-lune :-) end-table.

Hmmm -- I need to find a way to slice this slice to table top thickness. I've no chainsaw or wide enough bandsaw/mill.

Question
Neanderthal saw it? Rent something to slice it?
Axe it to pieces, resaw pieces, glue back together :-) (please don't pick this one)
other?

-- joe

[Per Swenson]

Congrats on your score!
Seeing as this might be a one shot deal,
you could spend around $60 dollars and go here.
http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/default.php?cPath=37_126
I hope this helps.
Per

[Jeff Sudmeier]

If you could find someone local who has a bandmill, you might have some luck. I would think you could pay them to slice that up for you. Only problem is you would probably have to take the wood to them.

[Larry D. Wagner]

:) Joe,

Don't know about your area of the country, but here in Indiana we have quite a few people with small bandmill operations and some have kilns. We have some who will mill small orders like yours for anywhere from .10 to .35 per board foot.(the lower priced ones are usually owned by Amish families) You might be well served to check around!

Larry :) :) :)

[Joe Judge]

Bless your hearts -- these are all good replies with info.

I was tempted to neanderthal it (bow saw, plane/work it flat, etc.), leaving the rest to chop up for turning. But I will now check around for some portable milling or small milling/kilning if I can find it.

-- joe

[Jim Becker]

Joe, congrats on your wood haul.

Relative to your table and assuming you're wanting the top made from a cross-section of the log...you need to consider is that it is very difficult to keep a "slice" of a tree from cracking as it loses moisture...which is why you see so few tables made that way. The danger is at least one crack radially originating at the pith out to the edge as the wood shrinks; maybe more depending on the existing internal stress of the wood and how the moisture is lost. This is true, even if you can keep the moisture loss very, very slow over quite a few years. I do hope it will work out, but just be aware of the pitfalls!

[Charlie Plesums]

Besides Jim's point about the probability of cracking (I would have said certainty of getting a crack from the pith to the most inconvenient spot), remember that your table top will be all end grain - which will not give a pretty and durable finish.

The only time I would recommend end grain on a table top is a cutting table for a butcher - easy on the knives. Therefore I suggest that you cut some nice wide boards, use the ones with pith as firewood, allow plenty of time for the wood to dry before starting the project (turners work with green wood, but not furniture makers), and orient the grain horizontally.

Sorry to be such a spoil sport.

[Ian Abraham]

As the guys have said, a slice out of log will usually crack with at least one pie shaped split because the wood dries and shrinks different amounts radially and tangentially in the log. Some woods and carefull drying you can get away with it, but I dont think cherry is one of them.
But... if you still want to go ahead and make a table you can try this way.

Slice the log into 3 or 4 slices with a chainsaw (beg borrow or rent one).
Make cuts from the bark to the pith in a different spot on each slice. This is going to be the 'split'. You have just created it with nice straight edges already.
Now stack the slices in a dry place on 1'x1' stickers to dry for about a year.
Once the wood is dry you will hopefully have round blocks with a pie slice missing. Trim up the edges of the gap and then cut a block from a sacrifical slice that matches the grain. If you match it right you can cut a filler block from directly above the crack and the grain will match up pretty close. Glue this block into place to re-create a full circle.
Then have at it with various tools / machinery to get nice smooth surface.. the chainsaw wont leave it smooth or even very flat.
To finish I would use that 2 part resin that you pour on and sets in a thick glasslike layer and polish it up good.

Good Luck:)

Ian

[Jim Becker]

remember that your table top will be all end grain - which will not give a pretty and durable finish.

I don't necessarily agree with this premise as I've seen many fine works with end grain surfaces. That said, it does take a lot of work and certainly the species chosen will affect both the amount of work and the final result.

[Richard Wolf]

Ian, I like your creative thinking, it sounds like you have done this before.

Richard

[Joe Judge]

Again -- thanks SMC folks. Your quick feedback was very welcomed.

I'm sealing them to buy me some time. But, I think I'll just chunk them all up into turning blanks. Maybe a demilune from that maple, if I can slice and dry it.

PICTS at the below links:

Re-looking at the maple cross-section now, its impossible to see what I saw when it was wet. That is, the cream color, lighter circle in center, mineral stain around the very center.
So -- its not screaming as loud to be turned into a table top as it was :-)

link to maple slice (http://personal.intrusion.org/%7Ejoe/wood/DCP02093.JPG)

The cherry looks redder than the picts show. The maple looks uglier than the picts show :-| Oh, well -- it looks nice and clean when turned, though.
Cherry pieces in back (http://personal.intrusion.org/%7Ejoe/wood/DCP02094.JPG)... maple slice is pictured better here, also.

One last pict (http://personal.intrusion.org/%7Ejoe/wood/DCP02095.JPG)

--joe