What to do with live edge walnut slab coffee table

[justin byers]

I’ve got a beautiful slab of walnut, just finished flattening it, 3.5” thick. It’s got a decent couple bark inclusions at one end, no where near through the slab. My initial thoughts were to put a couple walnut burl Dutchmen across them and call it a day, but now I’m concerned stuff will get stuck in there while in use. Any advise? Should I fill it with epoxy? I’m really not a big epoxy fan, but I suppose I could get behind it for a purpose... thoughts?
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[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would color some epoxy to make it dark, fill the hole/holes and sand it flat to match the surface. That's a gorgeous piece of walnut. Please post photos when you have completed the project!

[David Utterback]

I would be tempted to resaw the board to maybe 2" and use the beautiful walnut for other projects. I'm a skinflint, though. It may be too wide for most vertical bandsaws but a bandsaw mill could get another useful piece of lumber for you. Of course, you may not agree that 3-1/2" coffee table is mighty thick.

[Prashun Patel]

It's purely an aesthetic question.

For me, I'd leave the inclusion unfilled because it's so large. I'd make it a feature. I'd bridge it with something - but my opinion (worth it's weight in sawdust) is to pick anything but an eye-rolling, big fat contrasting butterfly. My first thought for that was to bridge it underneath so the top of the piece shows below the surface in the void.

Just keep a can of computer dust spray and spray it out if anything gets in there. It won't though.

[justin byers]

I took a poll amongst some colleagues, and the overwhelming response is that the hole is too deep to leave. So i think i have to reluctantly fill it. To bridge the gap I'm going to first put some nice modern thin dutchmen across it, but non-contrasting wood, thinking either curly claro or walnut burl. Then I'm going to fill it with smokey tinted flowcast epoxy, that way the hole is still a feature, but won't be a nuisance. I was asked to make this into a cribbage board, not my idea, so I'm worried a peg will get stuck in there. I stress that I'm using the epoxy reluctantly, as I do think it takes away from the walnut, but I need to remember at times that I'm not building this for myself. As for resawing it, it wouldn't be easy around these parts, and my bandsaw tops out at 12", plus it looks super killer with the big thick edge!

[Dwayne Watt]

I tend to fill these sorts of voids with clear epoxy, not tinted. That way you still get the visual aspect of the natural feature plus strength. If tint is involved I would use a color to accent the feature, not try to hide it.

[Jon Grider]

I took a poll amongst some colleagues, and the overwhelming response is that the hole is too deep to leave. So i think i have to reluctantly fill it. To bridge the gap I'm going to first put some nice modern thin dutchmen across it, but non-contrasting wood, thinking either curly claro or walnut burl. Then I'm going to fill it with smokey tinted flowcast epoxy, that way the hole is still a feature, but won't be a nuisance. I was asked to make this into a cribbage board, not my idea, so I'm worried a peg will get stuck in there. I stress that I'm using the epoxy reluctantly, as I do think it takes away from the walnut, but I need to remember at times that I'm not building this for myself. As for resawing it, it wouldn't be easy around these parts, and my bandsaw tops out at 12", plus it looks super killer with the big thick edge!

Oh the horror! Please don't destroy that special slab by drilling a bunch of grain hiding holes in it. Make your cribbage board from something less spectacular.

[justin byers]

there will be plenty of purdy grain left over, it wouldn't be my first choice, but alas, its not my table.

[Phil Mueller]

Beautiful slab. I may be the outlier here, but I’m not a fan of butterfly patches. Just too unnatural for my taste. I’d fill the voids with clear as Dwayne suggests and move on. Please post pics when done. It’s going to make for a very nice cribbage board.

[Robert Engel]

Most importantly, are you a member of the Flat Slab Society?

[justin byers]

I don’t usually do progress pics, but I was pretty pumped with how this turned out so I thought I’d update the interwebs. Slab came out to 3.5” thick, so I needed a beefy base, and this is proper solid. The zircote Dutchmans are perfect for just enough contrast. I kept the two tone them with zircote tusks on the stretcher joint. I was thinking about putting three dowels to add some flair to the legs and solidify the mortise and tenon joint on the base, not that it needs any support, but I’m worried it might be overkill. Plus making zircote dowels isn’t the easiest.

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[George Yetka]

I agree bridge it underneath. And i would tint epoxy black and pour it till you can barely see it. So it is stable and nothing can go so deep as to get stuck.

[justin byers]

Too late. Haha.