# How to flatten/plane a very large live edge slab



## keays50 (Mar 23, 2015)

Hey there, 

I am about to tackle a big project. A customer wants a live edge maple table 96" long by roughly 44" wide. I have a very large slab (4" thick x 28" wide x 100" long) that I plan on taking to the local mill to have it bookmatched, bringing the thickness down to around 2" for each board. My only concern is how will I get it completely flat and level as a finished surface for a dining table. I have a 20" board planer which is not wide enough (I will not be cutting off any edges on the slabs, keeping the live edge profile on both edges of each slab). Any suggestions? I have a 3 1/2" electric hand planer but I'm afraid I'll end up doing more damage than good with it trying to flatten out the surfaces. Possibly build a sleigh for a router? 

Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much. 

Sam
The Naked Edge Table Company 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Chamfer (Sep 6, 2014)

Its be a hell of a piece to run through it, but a 24-48 drum sander sounds like it might work.

Others might suggest some kind of router sled. I feel like at worse case your hand planer would do it with a lot of time and effort.


----------



## was2ndlast (Apr 11, 2014)

+1 on the router sled. Lot less work and the sled doesn't have to be fancy. And guaranteed flat top.


----------



## Barong02 (Feb 26, 2015)

Take it to a shop with a large drum sander or get a jointer plane. Your electric hand planer would likely be too aggressive.


----------



## bauerbach (Mar 25, 2012)

can you get it down to 40" and run the 2 sides through your 20" planer seperately? might not join perfect :/

taking the whole deal to a mill with equipment large enough to handle the assembly would be the proper solution.

I would expect this kind of work for a paid commission on a table that is probably costing a few grand, if it were me... 

Im not sure you could construct a router sled of this size for less than a mill would charge. 

Of course then you have the sled for the future... which is good. And you have to store the sled... which might be a problem.

no way I would go at it with a little hand planer... I dont think it would work well.


----------



## phoenixbound (Nov 24, 2014)

I vote for router sled method.


----------



## fareastern (Sep 19, 2014)

A suggestion from left field;find somebody with a CNC router and have them flycut the board-then flip it and repeat.


----------



## WarnerConstInc. (Nov 25, 2008)

I'd just use my jointer and planer.

If you are making a living working with slabs, get some bigger equipment.


----------



## AJH (Apr 11, 2013)

I doubt you will net 2inches finished,since you are only starting out with 12/4. Book matched is a term for resawing and opening up the slab pieces like a book.
A slip match will work,still gonna need to resaw but how thick depends on wood, Mc and your sawyer.
I doubt he does this for a living Mr G.


----------



## WarnerConstInc. (Nov 25, 2008)

Says the naked edge table company right in his post.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

keays50 said:


> Hey there,
> 
> I am about to tackle a big project. A customer wants a live edge maple table 96" long by roughly 44" wide.
> 
> ...


The only mill that will yield 2 piece around 2" thick is a band mill. Then if there is any twist in the original slab, or after it's cut you may not get your desired ( 2" ) thickness. If that's OK, then you can proceed with the hand plane, power planer, a 24" jointer, or a router and sled. There ain't no easy way to work with those size pieces unless you have very large machine. A router sled will do it, but it will take more time. If you are in the business, then make the sled BUT make a "multiple" router setup to save time. Just add a few more routers on the same cross piece.


A single router sled here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-JwkF1FwpM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdTr0OTAqx4


----------



## 2lim (Aug 30, 2009)

I do this kind of work from time to time. It is incredibly difficult to hand flatten live edge slabs, as they also tend to have knots and other grain irregularities(character) that are prone to tearout even with a sharp hand plane. 

I agree that a router sled will work best. I typically join the two boards, to make a full table top, then level it on my "flat" work bench, and set up my rails. I use a 2" surfacing bit to flatten it out, taking very light passes, then I drum sand like hell to get it smooth!!

Simon


----------



## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

*Large table slabs*

Sam
Some considerations for working such a large slab:
If you re-saw this 4" slab, by the time you true it up and get the top planed down flat, you might be at only 1 3/4" thick. For such a large table, this is actually pretty thin. A 2 1/4" thick top would be preferred for such dimension. 
If you continue with your plan, I suggest you cut a minimum of 4 dados on the underside and insert 1/4" thick X 1" steel strips to keep the top from bowing. The top will want to bow or curl and will need something to hold it straight and flat. 
Something to think about. 
Good luck.


----------



## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

I'd be looking into developing the "tooling" to make this a no-brainer if my Co's name was Naked Edge Table.

The router sled thing pictured would work....but do the math on 3 routers,and their life expectancy.

Gut feeling here....would think seriously about going vertical(google Striebig vert panel saw).Because I'm a neat freak and sawdust control would make this too easy.Then instead of dropping monies on a gang of underpowered,$$$ routers....would invest in a big honkin face mill.Say sumthin in the 10" range....yes,from a metal cutting milling machine.The inserts can be swapped out for wood cutters.

Then run a big enough motor system to drive it.Just sayin,this is how Co's of yore went about it.You need to consider space(layin big slabs down sucks up space),dust management,cost of tooling.

Or,get somebody else to do it.Good luck.


----------



## Chaos1 (Feb 24, 2013)

Router sled for efficiancy and accuracy, hand plane for the method, experience and callouses.


----------



## Ropegun (Oct 25, 2016)

Toolman50 said:


> Sam
> Some considerations for working such a large slab:
> If you re-saw this 4" slab, by the time you true it up and get the top planed down flat, you might be at only 1 3/4" thick. For such a large table, this is actually pretty thin. A 2 1/4" thick top would be preferred for such dimension.
> If you continue with your plan, I suggest you cut a minimum of 4 dados on the underside and insert 1/4" thick X 1" steel strips to keep the top from bowing. The top will want to bow or curl and will need something to hold it straight and flat.
> ...


1/4" steel is not going to stop the slab from moving. If you fail to put slotted holes in the steel, it could even make things worse. Proper acclimation and balanced surface prep are key. But at the end of the day, a change in moisture may still cause it move in undesirable ways.


----------



## Wcc guy (Apr 28, 2017)

A CNC is the short answer. I have one in the shop I work in. We can surface anything up to 4'2" X 16'1" simply by clicking a button. It takes a while depending on the bit quality, type of wood, figuring etc but as long as it's under 3' thick we can do it. This isn't an ad for our shop but instead my advice to get this done painlessly. It shouldn't take any shop longer than a few hours to a full day of surfacing to flatten any slab with the same setup that we have. 

I've considered the sled technique at home several times and may yet do it but as of yet laziness and the ability to use the CNC has pinched me every time. Essentially with the sled all you're doing is building a CNC bed that you're running by hand. If that sounds like you then go that route but using hand tools, while very rewarding, will take you forever(by today's standards) and may either cost you more than you want or cause you to lose the contract before you get it because of time constraints. 

It's all too common for maker spaces, local milling shops, cabinet shops, furniture fabricators etc to have CNC's these days. 

This causes real, by hand woodworkers to fall by the wayside unless someone is looking specifically for the human made, deficiency filled work that can also be beautiful. It's sad but it's obvious that our society has become dependant on quick and cheap; a side effect of automation and the industrial revolution. Not necessarily bad, but bad for hand tool workers more often than not. 

That's just my advice and opinion. I don't aim to offend by being blunt or matter of factly. It's simply how I see it.


----------



## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

I made this after getting a haul of live oak slabs. I was skeptical at first, but I'm amazed at how effective it is in getting very flat surfaces. I use a bottom clearing bit.


----------

