# Slab Table



## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

Not finished yet, but thought I would chronicle my latest project, and things I have learned along the way.

Found a guy on FB Marketplace selling live edged slabs. One of the pics really spoke to me, a "cookie" from a Red Elm tree, over 100 years old, size is about 3'x4'. Talked to the seller, has a neat operation, he mainly uses city trees that are being taken out for a reason. The guy is about 120 miles north west of me in an area of OK that is mainly farming, cattle, wind farms, and oil fields. He kiln dries the pieces, de-bugs them, and then surfaces them on his CNC router.










You can see that his router has some tear out on the strokes, takes a bit to sand those out.



















An add on project to this is something my Daughter has been doing. She started "printing" tree sections, it is really cool, she wants to print this piece as well from the back. Turns out I decided to buy her one too, so she could print it, and make a table as well. Here is one of her prints.










This is her slab:










Getting her one allowed me to stabilize mine with some strips in the back, it was a little flimsy with the cracks in it, and moving it around the shop I didn't want it to completely separate.

I laid some poplar strips into the back which sufficiently stabilized the piece, then I decided to add some bowtie keys to the front. I started down the path of routing the keys with a jig. Bought the Rockler jigs, set them up for a test, and didn't like the proportion of the keys, nor the rounded corners. So I decided to do it the old fashioned way. I drew out my bowtie, made a template, and cut them out of Walnut.

After watching a lot of videos I determined that I needed a marking knife to mark the cut for the bowties, Amazon had one here the next day and I started marking. The knife is a bit of a PITA as it wants to follow grain, so I switched to a wide chisel while I had the bowties hot glued to the slab. Once I had them marked I used a forstner bit and randomly drilled holes to remove material before routing, then routed the pockets leaving about 1/8" to remove with the chisel. I found after the first one that I would sneak that down to 1/16" or so as it take a long time to remove the material.



















There is a lot of finesse in cutting the pockets, and I quickly realized how dull my chisels were. Slapped a 600 grit belt on the 6x48 sander and they now cut like butter. I also realized it is easy to go just a little too far on the cut leaving a gap, so I took an old, poor quality import chisel and flattened the end to tamp walnut dust in the gap with some glue.

This is where it sits right now, 3 down, one pocket really close.










I have watched dozens of epoxy pour videos at this point, I have the epoxy, and picked a mahogany powder for coloring. In addition I am trying to work out a finish combination that doesn't darken the slab too much and wash out the beauty of the growth rings. In this pic I have Watco natural with spar var over in the center(too dark), and water based poly with spar var over it(to the right lighter), and some epoxy below that(too dark). A lot of the slab folks are enamored with Rubio Monocoat, I'll have some today to test.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

I don't know if it is my laptop or not . . . 
but none of your photos appear.
check the size - the pixels should be about 800dpi.

.


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

John Smith_inFL said:


> I don't know if it is my laptop or not . . .
> but none of your photos appear.
> check the size - the pixels should be about 800dpi.
> 
> .


Thanks for the heads up, went back to imgur..


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## ChiknNutz (Apr 22, 2011)

Pix look good now


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

I like Red Elm lumber, even end grain is nice. I hope you can reinforce that piece enough. I have't had any luck drying cookies of any species. Keep us updated on the build.


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

Thought I would update this one. I've messed around with this slab for a bit, it's been an on and off type of project. Shaping the edge(getting all of the sap wood off) was a pretty arduous process. I kept chipping away at it not wanting to go to far, I will know the limits on the next one I do. I also learned a lot about epoxy on this one. Last night I hit the point where I was ready for finish. I used Rubio Monocoat for the first time, I like it on this application.


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

Finished the table yesterday, the boss is very happy...


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## Bernie_72 (Aug 9, 2020)

Turned out great! Nice work!


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## EdS (Mar 21, 2013)

Fantastic looking table! Thanks for the build info.


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## Geeze (Jan 28, 2021)

Nice work with the bow ties and the finish! That is amazing.

Russ


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

you did a fantastic job, in every aspect... well done. that table would grace any home!


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## wvcknights (Mar 31, 2021)

Very nice.


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## OutdoorSeeker (Jul 13, 2015)

Beautiful work! Love it


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

Turned out nice..


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## ORBlackFZ1 (Dec 25, 2013)

Thank you very much for posting this information. You have helped me tremendously on making my decision on finishing my project! Your table looks beautiful!
Eric


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

ORBlackFZ1 said:


> Thank you very much for posting this information. You have helped me tremendously on making my decision on finishing my project! Your table looks beautiful!
> Eric


Thanks Eric, post up some pics when you get it done!


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## Doboy (Oct 14, 2021)

FWIW,,,
I'm jack of all trades, really good at nothing but intrigued by everything. 
Like me, everything I have is old & repaired, but 'still kinda works'.
I have an old junky woodshop, & metal shop, & a manual Norwood sawmill. I get by.
As far as woodworking is considered, I'm totally ROUGH-CUT! lol,,, so I'm in awe when I see what you guys can turn out. With envy.
I'm always running across huge dead trees. Maples, ash, walnuts, chestnuts & cherrys,, both wild, black & sweet. Wormy, pignut, & shagbark hickory's. 90% goes into the woodburners. & The barn is full of stacked boards.

Now that I'm retired, I'm dying to make a live edge slab table for our Mancave.
I greatly appreciate your informative posts & pictures,, so please keep them coming.

THANKS

OBTW,,, Here is one of my Youtube hero's. Along with your posts, I just might gain enough confidence to start a 'slab',,,,
someday.

Blacktail Studio - YouTube


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

Doboy said:


> FWIW,,,
> I'm jack of all trades, really good at nothing but intrigued by everything.
> Like me, everything I have is old & repaired, but 'still kinda works'.
> I have an old junky woodshop, & metal shop, & a manual Norwood sawmill. I get by.
> ...


Thanks for the comments, I learned a lot on this one, I watched a ton of videos, I think I saw some of blacktail's vids as well.

Show us what you come up with when you do yours!


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