# Aardvarks oak burl.



## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I guess aardvark like what I did with my oak burl slabs with my router sled for flattening out stock. 
So today I was at his house and we got started on his burl slabs. 









Here's aardvark routing one half of the burl. 









Here's me. Lol



















Couple close ups. 









Here's with a little lacquer thinner to show the beauty. 
Here's some pics of dans coffee table. Top is oak burl, book matched and the bottom is a maple hollow log. I'm liking this and can't wait to see a finish on it. 





























I also told him to add a 3 walnut bow ties on the top. 
Thanks for looking.


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Thanks Dom. 
Dom worked on this bugger for over 3 hours and then went into my stockpile of Maple Hollow Logs and picked one. I offered him more, but you know wives. ""What did you bring THAT home for???"" (ever heard that one?) He's welcome to more for busting tail on my stuff. He has a propensity of layering my driveway with sawdust to the point of my wife's disgust. She'll get over it. This table is for us (I'll tell her it's hers...you know how that works). 
The base to my table has one of those Maple hollow halves as a base.

I was at a loss for what to do. The thing had a warp like a dogs hind leg, and I had it mounted down hard to walnut stringers...it still moved. Dom shaved nearly 1/2" off the top with his jig setup. It will now take minimal sanding and finishing.

I have 2 more bookmatched sets, still unsure what I'll do with them...BEAUTIFUL STUFF ! 
This pair is 44" x 19" x 16" tall. A perfect contemporary/rustic coffee table.
Y E S !!!


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Wow:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:THAT looks GREAT. Gave me an idea for my hollow. Can't wait to see more pics:yes::yes:. Is he not creative???

Also thanks for your replies on the creepy crawly thing.

I see you both have had a blessed and Prosperous day,
so I'll wish it to others,
Tim


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

T Tim
(A non issue on the silliness of snappy or slithering stuff. Welcome.)

This burl has been sitting for 10 years+ and I have a lot of it. Some rotted, some was used for small projects. I really didn't get into the woodworking scene until last year.
Now it's a disease.
I picked up 30 lin. ft. of Maple hollow logs as wide as 42" across. On my site you can see a few used for numerous projects. Click the "projects" section.

http://gnarlywooddesigns.weebly.com/


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

:thumbsup: Incredible. Thanks so much for the pics of the sled, and even more so for the peek at that great table. Those are two impressive pieces of wood! (The "legs" aren't bad either :laughing I can't wait to see it finished.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

trc65 said:


> :thumbsup: Incredible. Thanks so much for the pics of the sled, and even more so for the peek at that great table. Those are two impressive pieces of wood! (The "legs" aren't bad either :laughing I can't wait to see it finished.


I can only take credit for the sled and for the plaining of the burl flat. Lol 
So thanks Tim.


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Nah Dom
I get to bounce ideas off of you. You get credit here.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Only for above post. You made the table. 
Did you do anything more to it?


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

No time Dom
I had that meeting and quickly cut the face of that maple piece.
Then I had to clean up the carnage.
..........
Dom and I were talking of ways to improve this process. The stability of a steel frame would be nice for a flatter run across the surface. Also we were using a 1.25" wide bit, and the availability of a 3" is out there.
That could speed up the process. Then again, how often would someone do this kind of work? It's a unique process that might normally be done with a planer. Problem here was a planer would probably tear the grain out of a burled surface, so that option was abandoned right away.
Where Dom came up with this idea is beyond me and a brilliant option. It's like owning a cheap planer that can be adjusted to handle any width or thickness.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

The burl is gorgeous. I am also interested in the base. You make a passing reference.

Where you get half a hollowed section of maple? Did you do this yourself. How about some more pictures of the base as well as the top.

Great job in leveling the top. Even if you had a planer big enough, it would have caused a lot of tearout.

I would not want to be using a 3in dia cutter in a hand held router.

I saw a video of some company which makes natural edge tables.

They had a sled attached to a pulling mechanism. 
The sled swung in an arc. The first operator pushed the sled back and forth. The second operator would then increment the pulling mechanism.

I will see if I can find the video.


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Dave.
Natural and bark edged tables is my mainstay.

The Maple hollow logs I got were from a site where they were clearing out for a shopping plaza. The trees looked fine until the cutter threw his chainsaw into it and found 3 trees were totally hollow.
One section was 6 ft across and the sides were 6-8" thick. HUGE. I wish I had a means to transport those sections.It took a bobcat a real struggle to get them on a flatbed trailer. The guy that took em have bees nests he was using them for.
I took everything from 42" across down to 24". About 30+ running foot of trunks. We moved em in 10-12ft lengths. It's all I could handle or physically move.
I got them home, and started chainsaw cutting them into kitchen and coffee table lengths 18" and 30". The debarking was a real time consumer. The black ants were in the possible thousands pouring out of the logs. I stacked em in smokestack like fashion and threw the heat down the center as a kiln. 3 months later they went from 30-40% m.c. down to 8-12%, and I started using em.

You can see some of them on my website if you like. The "Projects section has some in process from start to finish in slideshow form.
2 projects are straight up hollow logs made as tables for glass tops. Others like the Walnut tables, I used sections for legs.

http://gnarlywooddesigns.weebly.com/
Enjoy!


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Awesome that y'all can get together to help each other. That is one beautiful table.


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## alexanderbuzzsaw (Jul 8, 2011)

I have never seen something like what your doing and I love it, can't wait to see more, I have you on my favorites, thanks for the insperation


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## Allen Tomaszek (Dec 11, 2010)

Very cool table. Thanks for sharing!


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## Leatherneck (Dec 14, 2008)

That's going to be one beautiful table !! What a great score on the hollow maple.


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

Thanks 
I have a mess of maple hollows, but this burl was the prize.


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

Dom 
Care to post the 2 final pictures? 
I'll send them to you right now.

Much appreciated.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Per aardvarks request.


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

That's got to be one of the best looking tables I've ever seen:thumbsup: A real functional piece of art! 

Thanks to both of you for sharing the process and the final results.


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

Thanks Dom.

trc65. 
I normally put these on the market. This one is a keeper.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Any time Dan.


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

Greg just posted up some more oak burl, Dom.
Ya wanna see? He's less than 2 hours from us. He can hook you up!

(reality for me is I don't have time left at this location to dry em right..we plan on a move in a year.)

The HORROR!


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## greg4269ub (Sep 1, 2009)

I do like it! Because it is so cool is the vary reason I have had my wheels turning on that big one I have. Your awesome piece of work is making me think table tops!?!?:blink::yes:


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## vursenbach (Apr 11, 2012)

It looks great.

Sent from my iPad using Wood Forum


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

Greg.
It's what that burl can be, but you really won't know till you cut her open.
Actually what you showed on your post would make nice large cookies that probably wouldn't split so easy, due to the burl exterior holding things a little. Yours might have rings in tight and as it goes out start twisty rings and then burl. They could be interesting,


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