Oak slab coffee table

[Albrecht Kohler]

Hey guys, so I have an oak slab (cross section) and would like to transform it into a coffee table.
Currently it has an ugly staining finish on, probably Danish Oil and I want to sand it all off. The color of the original wood is so much nicer. To sand the top flat side will not be a problem, but the life edge look kinda tricky. I thought about using a Dremel with a flap sander, but the wood is quite hard and would probably just eat these flappers up and I would end up sanding forever. So now I am thinking maybe Dremel + carbide bits would make more sense. I don't want to sacrifice too much of that life edge look but I'm aiming to smooth it out a bit and get all that old finish out of the tight spots. Any ideas how to approach this are very welcome! :-)

And while I am at it, let me check my approach for the later finish with some specialists here:
I thought about using a thin layer of epoxy (West System) to seal these tiny fissures (you might see them in the picture) and then continue with a couple of poly (General Finishes, water based)/sanding runs until I am happy with the look.

Cheers!

[John C Bush]

I have used walnut shell blasting medium in my cheapo blaster on natural edge slabs. It cleans up the surface without removing any wood. Not sure how effective it is on an existing finish, but if it is Danish oil it will flaten the gloss appearance easily. Wear a face shield and a mask and do it outside--pretty messy. Harbour freight has 25# boxes of shell medium.

[Sean Troy]

+1 on sand blasting

[peter Joseph]

Less tech would be a brass wire brush and plenty of time. Seems worth it though for a slab of that quality.
Good luck

[Albrecht Kohler]

Hey guys, you are right, it seems like sand blasting will get the job done. I will try walnut shells and baking soda for the finer 'grind'. Peter, thanks, I will also give steelwool a go for the final touch ups in case the surface is too rough from the blasting.
*thumbsup*

[David Helm]

I wouldn't use a thin coat of epoxy in the holes. You won't get a good finish with your wipe on oil. What I have done is fill the holes with epoxy (colored with sanding flour of the same wood) then sand the holes flush. They will look like all the other dark spots on your slab. Works very well.

[Mark Gibney]

Have you tried washing the live edge with actone and a small wire brush to remove that coloring? - might work well in addition to the blasting.