Questions about a live Edge table

[tateb24]

I have been in the process of making a live edge table out of this Sycamore tree slab. I came across a rather small problem when I went to fill the checking with Epoxy, the slab is a mix of hardwood and soft punky wood, after I coated the whole top with the black epoxy, I noticed the black epoxy sank very deep into the soft punky wood, giving the wood a very nasty black unpleasing look. (I should have sealed the wood first, but didn't learn until afterwards)

I made a second mistake when I sanded WAY too deep with an angle grinder on a very costly whim.

I know Nakashima is probably turning in his grave.

My question is what are my options to try to smooth this wood out?
The piece is way to large for a planer, even a commercial size planer is not big enough. Just posting this message to see if anyone has any experience with this type of woodworking.

 

[Curly]

Try a large commercial cabinet shop. They will have a wide belt sander or a CNC router that's big enough. Otherwise make a router carriage and slide it back and forth with a dish bit over a pair of fixed rails on each side. The later would be my choice cause I'm cheap.

 

[CrimsonKeel]

A local lumberyard near me has a large belt sander you can pay like a few bucks to sand your boards. maybe search around your area for something like that.

 

[ve3bax]

+1 router carriage

 

[elkhorn]

Taylor, I make large redwood live edge tables and have sanded them down with a large belt sander. I think the angle grinder gives too much opportunity to dig in. On my last batch of 4 tables, I did what Ben suggested. I took them to a local lumber mill/cabinet shop that had a large belt roller sander that did a great job. For the few dollars I spent on each one, it saved me over 16 hours of sanding (my slabs usually come in fairly rough).

Good luck!

 

[jimbob91577]

A scrub plane/jack plane to start - go cross grain, then diagonal to grain, then with the grain.

Then use a jointer plane to smoothen out.

Yes - back before machines; this is what they did.

Good Luck!

 

[GaryMGg]

In this case, I'd go with a router carriage too.

 

[tateb24]

Thanks guys for the reply. I have been trying to locate a large sander in Houston, with no luck yet. I am going to keep searching though.

 

[Dale Lynch]

A scrub plane/jack plane to start - go cross grain, then diagonal to grain, then with the grain.

Then use a jointer plane to smoothen out.

Yes - back before machines; this is what they did.

Good Luck!

I wonder if that contributed to less longevity men had in those days.

I did it the old fashioned way on a 18" x4' slab last summer for a bench.Never again I say.

 

[rblakemore]

I'm in Housto also

Although I am in Houston also; I do not know anybody who can do this for you. The plane or belt sander may be your best choices. But, look around our area, there are some sawmills/ lumber mills for local lumber located outside of Houston.
Here is one that I think may be the closest and can help you,
M&G Sawmill Rough Cut Hardwood, Oak, Mesquite, Walnut, Pecan, Aromatic Cedar Hardwood Flooring Fireplace Mantels Houston / Huntsville Texas .

And, do you have a hoist of some sort for lifting the sycamore slab?? I just bought a 1 ton shop crane/hoist from Harbor Freight.

 

[robutacion]

I have been in the process of making a live edge table out of this Sycamore tree slab. I came across a rather small problem when I went to fill the checking with Epoxy, the slab is a mix of hardwood and soft punky wood, after I coated the whole top with the black epoxy, I noticed the black epoxy sank very deep into the soft punky wood, giving the wood a very nasty black unpleasing look. (I should have sealed the wood first, but didn't learn until afterwards)

I made a second mistake when I sanded WAY too deep with an angle grinder on a very costly whim.

I know Nakashima is probably turning in his grave.

My question is what are my options to try to smooth this wood out?
The piece is way to large for a planer, even a commercial size planer is not big enough. Just posting this message to see if anyone has any experience with this type of woodworking.

Well, I see a few possibilities, if you want to avoid moving the slab all over the state, the router sled is your easier and faster solution so, I agreed with those that suggested it. Is quite easy to make the jig, you can have a look here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-JwkF1FwpM

Any sander type is just not a good solution as you already have a big deep hole/area to fix, far too much wood for a sander to take so, if you have enough thickness on that slab to use the router to level it all up and then use a belt sander to give it the final touch, good, if not and you would prefer to not take any more wood from it but bring the slab top surface to a level/straight state, you may have to use clear epoxy or polyester resin to sell level the hole and the surface.

You can also use the clear epoxy or clear Polyester resin to fill that deep hole you sanded off and then coat the whole top with the common finish the slab table tops get around here and that is the self leveling liquid glass or liquid gloss, one good coat and the top will be flat and gloss as glass...!

Cheers
George

 

[tateb24]

Thanks for the additional replies.

After calling pretty much every saw mill in the Houston area, I finally had to take matters into my own hands...the epoxy idea was plan B, but due to costs, I just went out and bought an electric hand planer. It has taken me 3 days of non stop planning to get this thing down to where I needed it. The slab went on a diet and probably shed close 40-50 lbs.

I found one place that wanted to hand plane it and sand ( which was still not guaranteed to be flat), for 400.00. Which kinda defeated the purpose of making a live edge coffee table and 400.00 dollars for something that I could do myself....not really reasonable.

I will probably never go this route again, but in a weird way it has kinda worked out. Underneath all of the checking there was some really nice spalting that showed as I planed. The slab is not really flat, but close enough to where you would have to hold a straight edge to it to see the difference. It is still going to function as a table, but more of a piece of art, I guess. If I don't like the results, I am going to get that self leveling epoxy and let it work its magic.

I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions. And I will post pictures soon of the completed piece. Thanks again.

 

[rblakemore]

Too bad the sawmills did not work out. An electric hand planer is a good alternative idea. How difficult was it? I have considered obtaining one also. Which did you use?? The table like that is still a great idea and I would like to try to make one some day. Need a picture, great job!!