tim0625 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I am threatening to build my workbench again. For the top, I have an opportunity to get a one piece slab cut from a huge Live Oak log that's about a year old. I wanted my top to be 30x60. It looks like this will be about 28x55 which is ok. What I'm wondering is if we cut a 3 or 4 or 5 inch slab from the middle of the log, what problems am I looking at? Live Oak is beautiful wood and would make a rock hard top but I'm thinking about cupping and having enough skills to hand plane it to flatness. What say ye? Thanks Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgewaterWW Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Sounds like a very heavy top at 28x55 by 3-5" thick. Would this technique work from the TWW video? 174 – Flattening Workbenches and Wide Boards with a Router Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 A log that big needs a good bit more than one year to dry, doesn't it? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mike M Posted March 28, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Cutting the slab out of the middle of the log will provide quarter saw grain direction which is the most stable, but it will also include the center of the log aka the Pith. This is the least stable portion of the tree and also the area most prone to cracking and movement. If you want to use the whole slab, I would recommend splitting the slab and removing the pith. Instead of rejoining the two halves, I would build a bench with a split top with a gap that can be used for clamping or filled in with a trough for tools. I wold also rough cut the slab and give it a year or so to finish drying in your shop environment. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 If the log is really that big, you should be able to get a slab cut out of it that doesn't include the pith. Pith almost always cracks. We have some walnut slabs right now that approach 44" in width, and they contain no pith. The problem you face is that for a workbench, the thicker the slab, the better. I wouldn't want anything less than 3"...but that's going to take forever to dry...and we're not talking a year or two, we're talking at least three and probably more since you're in SC, which if memory serves is fairly humid a good part of the year? I understand the lure of the slab. Benches made with them look super cool. But unless you have access to a nice, stable slab that's either been kiln dried or has been sitting in a barn for a decade, they can be more trouble than they're worth. You could get that slab cut up and set somewhere to dry for a few years...and once you get to it after all that waiting, find that it's checked and cracked beyond use or that it just won't stay still. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Do you have any other big chunks of Live Oak you would want to sell? I've been looking for some to make window and door sills out of for an old house. Janka is about three times as dense as White Oak, if I'm remembering correctly. That slab will probably be about right for making a bench top in twenty years or so, but it will also be VERY hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 A sweet idea, begin your journey here http://benchcrafted.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-french-oak-roubo-project.html . If you want this bench to be a super flat surface for high end fine work this might not be the best way. If you want a gritty honest sob of a bench this could be for you. I'd love to do a slab top like the BC boys. Reality is I have no need for it now and it's not something that motivates me enough yet to build one. Like the guys said, try and avoid the middle of the log. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan S Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 A log that big needs a good bit more than one year to dry, doesn't it? your correct the rule for air drying is a year an inch, but that kind of breaks down when you get to something this thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Eric. Posted March 28, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I keep my Krenov books next to the toilet for inspiration and quick access since I refer to them so often...and coincidentally I was reading just yesterday in The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking that he contends some woods actually never dry out unless sliced into thinner planks. He was talking specifically about exotics, but it's still a consideration with a very dense domestic wood like swamp oak. The denser the wood, the longer drying will take. You do have the fact that oak has open pores going for you...but I would suspect that the slab in question would take considerably longer than a typical slab of walnut or red oak or the like. Like I said...forever. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 You could find a place to have the slab kiln dried so any warping would take place during the drying process. After it has been dried and acclimated to your shop than flatten it than stabilize any checking that may have occurred with some butterfly's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan S Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 You could find a place to have the slab kiln dried so any warping would take place during the drying process. After it has been dried and acclimated to your shop than flatten it than stabilize any checking that may have occurred with some butterfly's. I know a few places that won't kiln dry lumber that thick. One mill owner I talked to said he won't dry anything over 12/4 unless you're purchasing a few thousand board feet. he said that to do it properly you had to dry it slowly and thus tie up the kiln for a long period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jHop Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 there's the other half of the argument as well, that says this is a WORKbench. Not to detract from the beauty and awe of a full slab bench, but if you spent all that time to stabilize the slab, do you really want to turn it into something that you know is going to get beat up and bloodied? Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather leave the slab for a table top or "quasi-decorative" functional piece that needs a large surface and will not be the focus of years of pounding and chipping. (Maybe a toddler's play desk would be a safer use... maybe not.) (then again, I'm using plywood stacked on top of a rolling dunk tub base for a workbench. Anything is a step up from that.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 there's the other half of the argument as well, that says this is a WORKbench. Not to detract from the beauty and awe of a full slab bench, but if you spent all that time to stabilize the slab, do you really want to turn it into something that you know is going to get beat up and bloodied? Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather leave the slab for a table top or "quasi-decorative" functional piece that needs a large surface and will not be the focus of years of pounding and chipping. (Maybe a toddler's play desk would be a safer use... maybe not.) Nah...I watch Tommy Mac and he makes no bones about the fact that he's real protective over his bench. I want mine beautiful but functional. Beating on it is fine - to me that's just character marks but as far as " beat up and bloodied"...live oak is maybe a lot tougher than you may be thinking. It doesn't dent easily so as far as durability, I think it will be ok. As to what Eric said, if it starts checking as it dries, I'll just add maple butterflies. More character. Question...with it not being completely dry, would I paint the ends of the slab? Another question....flattening. I'm not a hand tool guy. Is this the moment I purchase and learn to use a jack plane or would the flattening by router method be easier? My thoughts are to cut the slab thick...4 or 5 inches to allow for flattening...more drying...cupping...re-flattening..and still ending up with about 3 or 4 inches when dry and stable. Thoughts? "Years to dry"....I don't mind...I prefer dead flat but that's where either the jack plane or router can be used multiple times through the years if necessary....not unless it will go like a banana on me..that's not cool but I expect some warping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 There are still forts standing in the South that have dents in the Live Oak doors from cannon balls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 That's fine...I won't be nearly hard on it as a cannon ball! Thoughts on the flattening? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Marc used a router sled thing to flatten his bench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim0625 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Yeah, I'm thinking that Marc's way would definitely work but I'm wondering if a jack plane may be easy to learn to use??????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Planes aren't hard to learn. Get a decent one, sharpen the blade and push there's more to it, but that's close to the truth. A jack by itself is no good for flattening such a large piece. You'll need a jointer plane too.I used a jack and jointer plane to flatten my bench. And although I wouldn't call it fun, it didn't take long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Hybrid it if you want to learn the jack. Grab a jack and give it a whirl. Finish it to spec with your router if the jack cannot give you what you are looking for. Start with the worst hump and see how much work it takes in such a dense wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwhite Posted April 9, 2014 Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Sounds like a very large and thick slab to completely dry out in a year. I would check that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Over 3" thick I would use 1 1/2 years to the inch of thickness to air dry a slab. I don't know a lot about it but there is a vaccum drying process. Under a strong vacuum water will boil/ evaporate at room temperature . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Flatten it with a handplane dude. Router will be dusty and noisy, this beauty will move on you anyway so trying to go perfect with a router is next to pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFatBaron Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Having working with small pieces of live oak, I'd recommend using any power method available to get it at least mostly flat. That is seriously hard wood. My planes/spokeshaves (which work fine on jatoba, hickory and black locust) bounce off it. Flattening a big slab by hand will be torture on you and your tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdie Posted April 12, 2014 Report Share Posted April 12, 2014 You would not paint the ends. Turners do that to keep the wood from drying, the opposite of what you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 I sealed the ends of my porch decking to prevent checking. If it's not sealed, the exposed end-grain will dry out and contract faster than the rest. So, I would dry, mill, build, then seal the end grain. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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