Interesting. I'd love to see those machines in action! What does a 30" jointer weigh? Do you use manpower to move and mill the slabs or do you have some sort of automation? Machines that big are out of the question for me in both size and cost. However, I am strongly considering a 20" or 24" planer. A not exactly local but close enough friend offered to loan his track saw and 12' guide so that piece of the puzzle is solved.
The whole live edge slab thing certainly is the craze of the month/year/decade isn't it? I wanted these slabs because they were wide. The fact that they are live edge is of no relevance to me. I've always bought most every wide board I see. I just love the things even though, as you well know, they present their own set of problems. 15 people have already asked me if I'm putting rocks with blue epoxy in between the slabs. If I can finish out 20" wide boards from these I'd be thrilled.