Live Edge

[Michele Vespi]

I have several slabs of live edge black walnut i'd like to make into small cabinets, shelves and tables. I air dry then bring them indoors for a couple weeks by the wood burner. i used minwax antique oil finish and it seemed like it soaked like a sponge. What finish do you boys use on live edge?

thanks Michele!:D

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Interested in seeing any pictures that you might take and what you produce.

No real solutions, just a bunch of random thoughts?

Will you remove the bark?

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?179105-Cleaning-up-live-edge-slabs-for-finishing

It is very common for the slab to have numerous defects and to not be uniform. So, be sure to take care of any "soft" spots. Tin CA glue is often used for this. I have never used this product, but I have used products designed for the task:

http://www.rockler.com/polycryl-wood-fortifier

I expect high variability over the slab, so a seal coat of dewaxed shellac seems like a good idea.

Apart from those types of issues, i don't think it really matters what you use to finish the slab :D

Oh, yes, stabilizing and deal with things like cracks. Epoxy I expect and I have seen some thick (shiny) finishes that left a very smooth surface (epoxy mostly I think).

Interested to see what those with more experience than I have done.

[Michele Vespi]

Thanks Andrew! The bark was already off the two walnut trees, they sat on the ground (in log) form for three years before being cut up. Here are a couple pictures of a piece i was playing with last night. Thank you so much for your comments, im certainly going to look into the epoxy and tin glue!

[Bradley Gray]

I work with live edges quite a lot and my finish of choice is water base satin polyurethane. I spray a couple of coats, sanding between with 150 grit and then fill problem spots with 5 minute clear epoxy. I usually only fill spots on the flat surfaces and leave the defects in the cambium layer alone. I then apply a few more coats of finish, sanding between with 220 grit and 320 grit, wipe the dust and spray 2 top coats. After the varnish cures I use silicon carbide wet/dry paper 400 - 1200 to obtain the desired sheen.
276085

[Shawn Pixley]

I've worked with wane edge pieces over the last few years. If the piece is to be outside, I harden any punky bits with wood hardener, thinned epoxy or CA. The last piece I did I used the System 3 Epoxy sealer / Finish followed by System 3 Spar Varnish. Other outdoor pieces I used Epifanes spar varnish.

For indoor pieces (I have only used curly Maple indoors), I used super blonde shellac. I don't usually stain pieces, so I can't give you any reference there.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Nice pictures.... I assume those are not worm holes, that would be trouble

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodworm

After you take care of any soft spots, you can finish using any finish you want I think.

Things like self levelling epoxy are typically shiny thick surfaces and often used on bar tops, so it might not be what you want. Google

self leveling epoxy bar top

And you will see what I mean.

[Michele Vespi]

Bradley that table looks amazing! I hope to get to that point. I will definitely try out all the suggestions and report back how it went. Thanks bunches!

[James White]

Michele,

Some good advise you are getting so far. One thing I would like to caution you about is being in a hurry for the wood to acclimate. PA is much like CT. In that, outdoor air drying only goes so far. So thick slabs need time indoors to finish drying. Going strait from outdoor to near the burner will dry the outside fast and leave the inside with a higher moisture content. As you can see in Bradley's photo one of the slabs has cupped. Thick slabs are difficult to fully acclimate. They simply need there time to fully cure. Having got caught up in the excitement of beautiful wood. I have learned my lesson the hard way.

These have been burning a hole in my pocket since last December. I would love to put them in my kiln. But I am storing some other lumber there. I really need to start selling some slabs. But I am a hoarder with no more space to store dried lumber. The walnut slab are 10/4"x24"x11'. Conference tables? The spalted Elm pieces like your walnut was "aged" before sawing. They are 10/4"x24"x7'-6". I need to find out if they will play nice together in the kiln. Does anyone know?

James

[John TenEyck]

I agree with James. You can't air dry lumber outside below 12 - 14% in your area (same for me in WNY). For indoor furniture in your area you need to get it down to 8% or less, but bad things will happen if you try to rush it, especially with thick slabs. Your wood needs to acclimate slowly to; putting it near the wood stove is not a good idea at all. Better to put it in a dry basement, on stickers, for 3 or 4 months. Better still is to get a humidity gage and a moisture meter so you will know what the EMC is and can measure the MC to know when it gets there. You might find a copy of Bruce Hoadley's Book "Understanding Wood" to be helpful in your endeavors.

John

[Bradley Gray]

I dry lumber in an Ebac dehumidification kiln and have been using it for a long time. Here in southeastern Ohio drying wood below 10% doesn't work for me. Wood that has been dried to 8% will rebound to 10% due to the humid summers. I have also had wood dried below 8% pop apart while ripping which is way too exciting. James - you have some beautiful slabs. For bigger pieces I load them near the bottom of the stack as the weight helps and start the drying cycle with the dehumidifier running 60% of the time and bring the temp and dehumidification up slowly. You still never know because it's wood!

[James White]

James - you have some beautiful slabs. For bigger pieces I load them near the bottom of the stack as the weight helps and start the drying cycle with the dehumidifier running 60% of the time and bring the temp and dehumidification up slowly. You still never know because it's wood!

That is the reason why I am trying to caution Michele. Sometimes even when you are gentle. You can still have issues. Especially with "character" wood.

James

[Myk Rian]

The dry rot isn't going to help anything, as I'm sure you know. It needs to cut off.

I'm working on a live edge redwood burl for a table. Going to use satin poly on it.
Not worried about it being dry, as the fellow I got it from bought it 45 years ago.

[Bob Reda]

I'm working with some soft maple live edge right now. wood taken from my property about 15 years ago. I have some bark on it that i would like to keep on. Is there a way to do it? My wife prefers it.
Thanks
Bob