a claro walnut slab table

 we delivered this one to boston a while back, but i'm just getting around to posting

photos now .. it was a spectacular slab and it went, definitely, to a good home

 here it is, u[side down, with the base attached ...

and here is a close up of the figure in the top ... loved the curvy edges ...

 we started with this slab photo from our friends at goodhope hardwoods

 in the end, we were able to buy it without the drop pon the right end where 

it was way wider than we needed ...

 it had a few smallish cracks, but was otherwise perfect, 

which is very unusual for a slab of this size

we filled them in and it was off to the finish room ..

 here it is with a wet coat of varnish  ..

and a close up of the water jet cut 1.5" thick legs with our 'bronze' finish

for more pictures of our claro walnut slab tables, visit the 'slide shows' page on our blog
the claro walnut tables are in the 'live edge tables' folder ...

claro walnut slab tables

finishing up a couple of claro walnut slab projects next week.  above is the slab we started with for a dining table that will go in a half round room about 10' in diameter ... the drawing is below.  

click the photos to enlarge them ...

here's the finished table .. the story is below

typically before i actually purchase the slab, i will crop it to size in photoshop and often, can erase the dimensions with the 'rubber stamp' tool ... that gives us and the client and idea of the final shape.  in this case, i actually made a full size cardboard template for then to try in the room for a while ... here's the drawing ...

and the model below, with a new base design

painted mdf base, 1" = 1' scale .. picture of the slab glued to the mdf top

the base only ...

the base rectangles are actually welded now ...

and the slab is filled and has its first coat of finish .. 

the steel will have our 'bronzy' patina when it is finished

the base is welded up now .. ready for patina
 

before the final cut to length

we use aero marine clear epoxy fill, #300/21.  scroll down on the epoxy page .. we outline the cracks with a couple layers of tape and then fill to the top of the tape, which after a tiny bit of settling, allows us to
scrape it to a level filled finish.

the second, (and there is actually a third shown briefly in this post) is a largeish coffee table, 

about 46" wide by 66 " long by 15.5" high .. same process ..

first a drawing with the cropped slab photo ...

in this case, we made a full size painted mdf mockup to confirm the proportions ..

 5/2 .. all in all done .. good to go.

it'll be off to providence next week or the week after ... 

more on the '3rd' project as it progresses ... it is being made from slab cts#23

and it has some cracks, but also some seriously dramatic crotch figure ... the first stage

of the clear fill is hardened and we are awaiting delivery of another batch on monday ... 

big piece of claro walnut

well i think you'd have to agree that this is a pretty big piece of walnut ...  17.5' x 66" ..

it's certainly the biggest piece i have ever had anywhere near my shop ... 

somewhat unfortunately, it's actually too big for the client's room and we have to cut it to 

13'6" x 53", which we did when it arrived last week at my friend noel dydo's shop.  

he had to get it out of the truck with a lull and a forklift ... 622 pounds.

on our end, we had to do some thinking about how we would manage it once it arrived here.

after working on this table last spring, i realized that it was going to be difficult to work on it in the actual shop and that we would have to move to my garage, where we built the 26' x 9' and the 20' x 8' tables a few years back. 

here it is last thursday at my friend's shop

first step, cut one end ... blow this one up and note the D9 in the background ... 

serious earth moving equipment at noel's shop .

here we're preparing to add the rotating feature to this slab ... at about 450-500 pounds, we had to rethink how we were going to flip it .. sam made two 24" pieces of 5" channel with a 1 and 3/8ths" pin going through it.  we drilled and tapped the ends for 3/8th" bolts to clamp the metal pieces to the slab with wood shims. in this photo, i am wearing my special matching stihl sneakers while i cut 'a little' off the width of the slab so it is the right size for the room.  way down at the other end, it's still 66" wide and about 40" too long.  we'll get to that in a minute ... 

well, here we are, ready for the local lumber company to send their sheetrock truck to move it to my garage .. too big for the shop with the other stuff that's going on in there now. you can see a little piece of pipe in the top of the tarpezoid, which the greased pin fits into.  we let sam have the honor of the first flip today, which he was able to do by himself almost with one hand.  should of had this rig about 7 or 8 years ago.

flipping videos to follow soon.
videos of flipping the slab at this link    

here's another video .. you remove one of the side ties and flip it halfway, and then you have to replace it and remove the opposite tie piece and replace that once the slab is horizontal ... we could remove both tie pieces, but hey, the ends are on wheels and we wouldn't want to drop it, would we?

 

 crazy figured !!

did a little rough smoothing and alcohol splashing on what will most likely be the bottom of the slab.

 

all in all done and in miami .. hard to photograph, but with a little photoshopping ...

you can get the idea ... big piece of wood!

new claro walnut slab tables

we finished the claro walnut slab table above just in time for the next rough cut slab to come into the shop.  even though the slabs are from different logs, they are remarkably similar in width, grain, and appearance.  fortunately, the new one is two and a half feet shorter than the last one, which was over 12' long and 4' wide when it got here.  3" thick too .. no picnic to move that one around for sure.

before trimming, on our supplier's website

click the photos to enlarge them ...

trimmed in photoshop for the client's approval

after the first coat of finish

while the first coat was wet

second coat on the top of the slab

the 1.5" thick legs drilled, tapped, and assembled by jim with their polish and clear coat ... ready to install

 all we had to do was move it out to the finish room .. it took all six of us .. we stood it on edge on the little cart, wheeled it to the front door, slid it into the back of the truck, drove it the 60 feet or so to the finish room and then mounted it on the legs below.

so we don't have to flip it with the legs on it, we use a pair of mdf 'vs' slightly taller than the legs ...

then we wedge and jack them up into the pockets routed into the bottom of the slab, bolt on the legs, and then pick up one end at a time to removed the mdf.  the whole table probably goes 500 to 600 pounds assembled.  we have no way to weigh it, so that's just a guess. kind of like a pool table ...

 last coat of finish after the leg install .. good to go.  to ship it, we'll reverse the process and lend our mdf vs to the delivery guy .. it's a good system that we have been using for a couple years now.

 and the next slab arrived at my friend's factory last friday ..

 we drew on it out down there, and rough cut it to width and length

this drawing shows width between the legs

and brought it into the shop for acclimating on monday .. makes a good worktable in the meantime

more on this table as we progress.

 gonna be a nice one!

see more of our claro walnut tables, visit this slide show