Walnut Slabs

[Justin Rapp]

My wife requested I replace the tops of a coffee table and end tables we have. They have some nice iron bases, but the tops are not 'real' wood so time for an upgrade.

Got a haul of walnut slabs today....

474830

[Matthew Hills]

How dry are they now? How long will you be letting them acclimate?

Do people have more trouble with insects if the bark is left on? (heard this could be a problem for logs)

Matt

[Bill Dufour]

Make sure the screws to attach the top have some slop to allow the wood to move relative to the metal.
Bill D

[Justin Rapp]

How dry are they now? How long will you be letting them acclimate?

Do people have more trouble with insects if the bark is left on? (heard this could be a problem for logs)

Matt

They were in the kiln at my sawyer's place for a few weeks which should have killed off any critters in the bark. I was however getting some mixed readings on my moisture meter between 11 and 18%. I have some narrower slabs in my shop (same species) that are a year now and they are about 8 to 9 %. I'll let them acclimate for a month or so but wanna see <10% before I do anything with them.

[Justin Rapp]

Make sure the screws to attach the top have some slop to allow the wood to move relative to the metal.
Bill D

Yup = thanks for the reminder.

[Don Penniman]

Very impressive slabs! Keep us posted on this. I will have some similar projects and might need to steal some ideas

[Bill Dufour]

Yup = thanks for the reminder.
I know nothing about metal motion vs wood. But a guess is it will be more relative motion then wood to wood. A carbide endmill or router bit in a drill press should let you cut some slots in metal with a pilot hole.
Bill D

[Justin Rapp]

I know nothing about metal motion vs wood. But a guess is it will be more relative motion then wood to wood. A carbide endmill or router bit in a drill press should let you cut some slots in metal with a pilot hole.
Bill D

We have the stand already and it will need a slight mod to give the screw hole a slot for wood movement. The top that is on there now is a laminate over some stabilized wood product (particle board I assume)

[Tom Bender]

Those stickers are a little thin. You will get faster acclimation with much more air space. Also you might want to add a sheet of something to the top of your stack to even it out, and a lot of weight or clamped cauls to reduce warping.

[Justin Rapp]

Those stickers are a little thin. You will get faster acclimation with much more air space. Also you might want to add a sheet of something to the top of your stack to even it out, and a lot of weight or clamped cauls to reduce warping.

Thanks for the suggestions, but maybe you didn't read the rest of the thread - these are kiln dried already. Just a little moisture left in some spots on my meter. 1/2" is just fine for this and I also have a fan running to move some air. I've been using 1/2" sticker for years even to dry totally soaked wood.