Natural Edge Woodworking

[Rick Wize]

I have come across a couple really nice walnut and olive slabs. Iwould like to make a couple small end tables but have never done any natural edge woodworking. The walnut still has considerable bark on the pieces while the olive is fairly clean.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to help in learning how to build an end table out of this wood? I am particularly interested in some advice on how to work the ends (bark or no bark etc). Any help with advice in regards to web links or potential books would be greatly appreciated.

Thx,

Rick

[Jim Becker]

Rick, welcome to the 'Creek!

I have found that one of the best ways to appreciate this form of work is to view things made by people like George Nakashima and learn from them. There are plenty of examples in his book, Soul of a Tree, which IMHO, is a really good read for anyone serious about woodworking. It's somewhat expensive, so check your local library. You can also "Google" his work...there are a lot of great pictures available online and the same links may offer up other similar work by different artists.

As to the natural edges, a lot of folks simply use power sanding and grinding to prepare the edges such that they remain "natural", but do not pose safety problems or look too rough. The idea is to clean them up without taking away their character. I personally do not leave bark on because it's very likely to come off at some point and often harbors "creatures"...remember most natural edged material is air-dried.

Cherry and Black Walnut are my favorites for this kind of project because they have really nice differentiation between the sap and the heart which compliments the natural edge a lot. I've only completed one piece so far...a natural edge "coffee table" out of black walnut off our property that is in our home theater room, but have a number of very nice (and large) cherry slabs awaiting projects when I get time. Be sure to post your own work as it develops!

[Ken Pywell]

My only experience with natural edges was with a redwood burl slab. I used a wire wheel in my drill and it cleaned it up quite nicely. It got rid of all the "junk" and left clean, figured edges. Keep us updated on the progress.
Ken

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

if you want to keep the bark consider a applying penetrating urethane or epoxy to seal the bark. You may want to remove it in order to re-mount it correctly using an epoxy. A high penetrant may do this quite nicely in a couple coats while adding considerable toughness to the bark itself ( species and condition depending of course).

[Jim King]

Rick: We make a lot of natural edge tables. We simply remove the bark with a wood chisel and mallet ( the fresher the wood the easier) and when dry we made a wooden dowl mounted to a steel rod that fits in the electric drill. We use contact cement and attach sandpaper to the dowl for edge clean up but after that there is always hand sanding to get the final finish.