Wide Pecan Slab

[Todd Zucker]

I know someone who is cutting down a pecan tree with a 35"+ DBH trunk and thinking of having it cut into slabs, which would be about 3" thick, and kiln dried. He asked if I had any interest.

Realistically, I don't have the skills or machinery to handle and process something that large and am not sure I could do justice to the tree by trying to make a live edge table. Don't want to end up with something that leans against the wall of my garage for the next 20 years.

However, I am thinking that one of the narrower slabs near the outside of the tree might make a good workbench top.

Any thoughts on whether a single 22" or 24" wide slab of pecan, which I guess would be plain sawn, would be stable enough and suitable for that purpose?

[andrew whicker]

I made a big slab table without enough tools to really handle it. I had the top jointed and sanded at a local woodshop that had a 24" jointer and 48" belt sander. Not sure what size planer they had, but I'm sure it at least equaled the size of the jointer.

That could be an option for you.

[Brian Holcombe]

My preference given the circumstances would be two pieces 10-11” wide, 4” thick and quarter sawn.

[Jon Nuckles]

My preference given the circumstances would be two pieces 10-11” wide, 4” thick and quarter sawn.

Sounds perfect for the center slice, since it would have to be halved to remove the pith.

[Todd Zucker]

Thanks for the suggestions. Side benefit would be that my jointer/planer could handle the width of those pieces.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I rarely see hickory/pecan thicker than 4/4. Any thicker takes a long time to dry.
I suggest looking up a kiln schedule to see if it's even possible to dry it at 3" without cracking.

[allen mcknight]

I made my workbench from KD, 16/4 Hickory, 12-20" wide. It's a perfect wood for a benchtop. Pecan/Hickory are considered equivalent commercially. But IMHO pecan is nowhere near as well-behaved as hickory. It is hard as a rock, but splits and moves alot, where Hickory is stable. Maybe pecan is more manageable after kiln drying? Either way, it's worth a shot...

I couldn't tell from your post if you already knew this, but most kilns won't accept slabs that haven't already been air dried for 3 yrs (1 yr for each inch of thickness). Too wet otherwise and it slows the whole charge. So you may have a long time to plan for your slab?

Nothing wrong with splitting the slab so you can work with it. Depending on how you rejoin it, it can be very attractive, even if you leave natural edges. I used epoxy and long wood lags to rejoin the sections on my bench... Or a mill near you might have a big planer and WB sander so you can keep the slab whole. My nearest mill has a 48"planer and 57" WB. They charge a couple hundred to get them finish ready. Or you could work the whole slab by hand. You'd be a ninja by the time you finish!

One other thing: since you are milling the tree "to order," why not get a 4" slab? You're willing to take the split pith section anyway, so that's a good bonus. You don't often find 16/4 slabs because they allegedly never dry in the middle. It gives you a lot more material to practice on. And a slab that thick just looks great. Weighs a ton. But looks great.

And since it's from the pith section of the tree, it would be vertical grain, which is much more likely to be stable.

Good luck!

[Kurtis Johnson]

You're willing to take the split pith section anyway, so that's a good bonus. ....

And since it's from the pith section of the tree, it would be vertical grain, which is much more likely to be stable

Maybe I am misreading, but it seems you are saying the O/P will be including the pith. I would highly recommend ripping out the pith or there will be continual splitting.

[Andrew Gibson]

Good point Kurtis, what is being suggested but not stated is to request the pith slab at 4" and have the sawyer cut out the pith leaving two vertical grain 16/4 slabs.
Allen made a good point about drying, depending on the type of kiln and what is being dried in the load, the slabs may need to air dry for some time before actually going into the kiln.

[Brian Holcombe]

I've never dealt with Pecan, but if it's a very dense wood then you could probably knock it down to 3" thick and still have a very sturdy workbench top. I'd hesitate to go below that, so if that wood is impossible to dry at that thickness then it's not the best species for a work bench.

I pass on practically every one of the 'turn this tree into something' opportunities as the great majority of them are not worth the time and effort. You could buy beautiful material to make a workbench out of for about $800-$1000 and it would be ready to use, so if you're paying more than that to get this whole deal going than it's not really worth it in my opinion.

I much rather let the experts go to work on good material from start to finish and then have them ship it to me ready to turn into furniture, or a workbench in this case.

[allen mcknight]

Good point Kurtis, what is being suggested but not stated is to request the pith slab at 4" and have the sawyer cut out the pith leaving two vertical grain 16/4 slabs.

Exactly.

I hope OP goes for it. How often do you get to purchase massive hardwood slabs exactly the way you want ?

[Todd Zucker]

I spoke with the person who is preparing the slabs. He says they typically do 3” slabs and let them air dry for about 6 months and then kiln dry. They then flatten and surface them and end up with an approximately 2” thick slab that is ready to sand, finish and use as a table top. They do lots of pecan. He said they don’t go over 3” but do have success starting out with the 3” thickness.

I asked him about taking the center slab and removing the pith, but when I told him I could glue up boards that are less wide and just needed quarter sawn to make a stable bench top, he said he will instead take half of a log and quarter saw it to give me a bunch of good quarter sawn boards of varying widths and 9’ long. We will see what happens in 6-8 months when they arrive. I do have a bandsaw and a smoker if it isn’t usable for a workbench or some other piece of furniture.

They are also going to give me a big slab to make a table. I still worry that is going to sit in my garage for the next 20 years, but at least it will look cool.

At the moment, I am working on a pecan base for a mesquite table top. First time dealing with this wood. I wanted rustic curvy legs and tried shaping them with a rasp. It is really, really hard wood.

[Tom Bender]

As mentioned in a recent post, 'it is best to have the base ready for the top when it arrives so it won't warp while waiting'. Sounds like you will be getting a 2" slab dried and flattened. If you check it out before it is dried you will be able to measure it and make the base. They would probably cut it to rough size also. Then when it arrives you just have to deal with the edges and finishing.

[Todd Zucker]

That's a really good suggestion, Tom.

For the workbench top, he thought he could get me pieces that are close to 3" thick, sanded and flat. For the live edge slabs for the table tops, he said they end up about 2" final thickness. I guess the full slabs tend to warp more when drying.

My back already hurts thinking about it.