table top from single wide slab - question

[Jim Ballard]

Hello Gentlemen,
I am a hobbiest wood worker and have learned much form your forums and wanted to say thank you. I have a question I was hoping for some feed back on..

I have a very nicely figured slab of 8/4 Bocote 12 inches wide, 60 inches long. I am wanting to make a hall table from the single slab. Do I need to rip it into 2 to 3 inch widths and re-glue to prevent warping..or can I use it the way it is. I've been told different things by differnt people.
Thanks
Jim Ballard

[Sam Yerardi]

Myself, I would not cut it up. I would leave it as a complete slab. There is a lot of thought/discussion on panels with regards to alternating/not alternating grain, cutting a panel up, etc. but there is no one correct answer.

If a piece of wood is not dry, it will try to reach equilibrium with the environment it is brought into. How it actually responds is essentially well-documented but it is not 100% predictable how it will move, how much, etc. If the bocote or whatever wood you have purchased has been kiln dried, and it is to rest in an environment with relatively constant humidty and temperature, it's probably not going to move much if at all. Even if it is air-dried, again if the environment that it goes into is not different than what it has acclimated itself to, there probably won't be much movement.

Finishing it will enhance its appearance and slow down moisture exchange to a degree but it can only do so much, even if it is a slab table made by George Nakashima.

[Keith Starosta]

In one of the videos toward the end of the lecture series at the woodworking channel, Sam Maloof talks about how he is making a large table out of one single slab of wood, and how they struggled to figure out how to flatten the slab. Sam mentioned how he didn't want to rip the slab into pieces, because then it wouldn't technically be a single slab anymore. I like that thinking, and tend to agree with it. I'd try to leave it as a whole piece, and go from there.

- Keith

[Mike Spanbauer]

Your kerf cuts will affect the lines, however thin the kerf is. I'd recommend leaving it intact. The good news is that Bocote is dang hard stable wood once it reaches equilibrium, so chances are you'll have few if any issues over time.

Make sure it's stable currently and you're good to go.

Gorgeous wood!

mike

[Chris Padilla]

Invest in a moisture meter and measure its MC over several spots and keep a weekly or every other day recording of it to convince yourself it is stable. If it is still changing, sticker it and forget about it or look into having it kiln dried.

Oh, don't dare rip it unless you find it starting to move on you and then you may have no choice. How long have you had the piece in your possession? Where is it being stored? How is it being stored?

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Leave it intact. Sawing it into strips will only produce a multi-board tabletop. Fasten it down as a tabletop so it can move some and finish both sides.

[Dan Barr]

Just that,

Figure our if it is dry or not:

If in doubt, let it sit in your garage for a year or two. Then go back to it. Just dont cut it. whatever you do, dont cut it.

I just saw a big birds-eye maple slab that this guy turned into a table. He got it from a guy who got it from a guy that died and had it in his garage for 30 some-odd years. He said he would sell it to me for 7500.00. i told him no, thanks. but if i were a millionaire...

You dont see the slabs too often. but when you do, it's a lot more desirable.

ciao,

dan

[Joe Chritz]

Thats a big chunk of bocote. The only way I would ever touch that with a saw blade (other than to cut to final size) would be to book match it by reswing.

The other posts have answered your question. The answer is an obvious maybe or maybe it is "it depends".

Joe

[Chris Padilla]

Just that,

Figure our if it is dry or not:

If in doubt, let it sit in your garage for a year or two. Then go back to it. Just dont cut it. whatever you do, dont cut it.

I just saw a big birds-eye maple slab that this guy turned into a table. He got it from a guy who got it from a guy that died and had it in his garage for 30 some-odd years. He said he would sell it to me for 7500.00. i told him no, thanks. but if i were a millionaire...

You dont see the slabs too often. but when you do, it's a lot more desirable.

ciao,

dan

Those kinds of slabs may be worth cutting veneers from, Dan! How wide was the slab?

[Steven Wilson]

Assuming the slab is fairly stable I would look at how I mount it to the legs to provide some stability; large sliding dovetails anyone?

[Dan Barr]

It was about 18" x 6-7' long. approx 2" thick.

maybe big enough for veneer. i dont know though.

ciao,

dan

[Chris Padilla]

It was about 18" x 6-7' long. approx 2" thick.

maybe big enough for veneer. i dont know though.

ciao,

dan

Oh, man, that SCREAMS veneer...it's a shame to let birdseye rest within the thickness of a piece of wood! :D

[Chris Padilla]

Assuming the slab is fairly stable I would look at how I mount it to the legs to provide some stability; large sliding dovetails anyone?

Figure 8's!!! :D (a la David Marks....)

[Chris Padilla]

Anyone remember Todd Burch's Bu-Bu-Bu-binga table?!


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=18442

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=18072

[Dan Barr]

could you make profit over a 7500 dollar price tag though?

Ciao,

dan

[Jim Becker]

Absolutely NO reason to rip that beautiful board. The need to do so is a continuing myth. If the board is flat and was dried correctly, the supporting structure will keep it flat when connections are done to accommodate normal wood movement.

[Craig D Peltier]

Im currently building a Santos Mahogany slab top media console. I found alot of boards here of very wide stuff. Its 23 inches wide by 109 long an 5/4 thick. As long as I use table top fasteners that allow movement on it I wasnt too worried. Its dry as I checked the content. Its not warped or hooked etc.

[Peter Quinn]

I don't see the point in ripping a slab just to reglue it. I'm thinking it will act and move as a monolith again once reglued unless you are making a butcher block, which might invoke criminal penalties if made using a beautiful exotic slab. If its too big for you to process, look around for someone with machines to do it or do it by hand.

Place I worked had several large planers, one 36" Buss! We regularly had local craftsmen come in with special figured wood just to have the basic milling done rather than rip and reglue. A lot of millwork shops offer that kind of service. I remember the whole crew standing around the planer outfeed watching a rough slab of highly figured cherry emerge from the machine in all its glory. This guy (a local highly skilled hobbiest furniture maker) had been sitting on the slab for years trying to decide what to make with it. No shame in outsourcing.

[Howard Acheson]

I never understood the value of ripping a wide board and re-gluing it in exactly the same configuration. Some seem to think that doing that is some way "relieves stresses" that will later cause warping. That notion is just plain wrong and has no basis in fact. All it does is make the board narrower than it was and messes up the symmetry of the grain pattern.

While I don't agree with ripping a wide board and flipping every other board to alternate the end grain pattern either, I at least understand the rational for doing it. If a board has a tendency to want to further dry it might want to warp as it changes moisture content. Ripping and alternating end grain will not prevent the panel from warping, instead the warping is manifested as a rippling of the panel Some would consider the rippling as a lesser issue than warping, I guess.

My preference is to buy and leave boards as wide as possible. As long as they are properly dried and then stacked and stickered to acclimate in the woodworker's shop, there should be no later problem with warping. Panels made up of many narrow boards look to me like the panel was made with leftover scrap cut-offs. That's the way many mass market commercial furniture panes are made. But, they are also finished in a manner that virtually hides the grain pattern and the wood so the use of narrow boards makes economic sense. The best furniture is made with wide boards for panels.

[Mike Cutler]

Jim

No, you don't need to cut it IF it is already flat. The only reason to have to rip[ it would be if there was a crown that would take away more material than desired to make it flat. Ripping it could also release stress and leave you with a lot more work.
They've moved about as much as can be expected by this time

I have two pieces of Bocote that size. Both have been in an unheated garage shop, exposed to New England weather conditions for 2+ years. Neither piece has moved. They are both still dead flat.

On the other hand. I have some 8/4 padauk that is 32" wide and 7' and 9' long. They've been in the garage for the same amount of time. They have developed a slight crown maybe 1/8-1/4" across the face. These will need to be ripped down the center for two reasons. The tables they are for will be 42" wide, and I don't want to lose any more thickness than absolutely necessary.

It just kind of depends on what the end result desired is.