Michigan Chocolate Slab

Brent Dowell

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So, since it might be a little while before I work on this project, I'm wondering if there's anything I should do, storage wise, to keep the one crack from spreading?

I like the idea of putting in a dutchman in the finished product, but just want to prevent it from getting any larger now...

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I can't suggest anything to prevent that crack from spreading but trying to slow down the drying speed by decreasing the exposed board surface.:dunno:

However with a slab like that one you'd better make good use of it or I will personally will come to US to pull your ears.;).

If you don't know what I mean by good use, pm me and I'll give you some hints.
Gotcha?
 
Left out the 2 other pieces I plan to use for the base eventually...

Really thinking this should be as simple a table as possible. Even up the edges, smooth it off, and make some tenons on the 'legs' and mortises in the top to accept the tenons.

Will have lots of options when it comes to that, will need to think about a stretcher for the legs, etc...

Any how, here are the bookmatched mini slabs (Mini? Heck they are over 3' tall) for the legs.

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I can't suggest anything to prevent that crack from spreading but trying to slow down the drying speed by decreasing the exposed board surface.:dunno:

However with a slab like that one you'd better make good use of it or I will personally will come to US to pull your ears.;).

If you don't know what I mean by good use, pm me and I'll give you some hints.
Gotcha?

I gotcha! Feel free to post some suggestions in this thread, if you don't mind.

I personally feel the wood is the star in this and that I should do as little as possible to ruin it. If the bark was intact all the way around, I'd probably leave it as is on the edges, but right now I'm thinking more along the lines of debarking the edges, leaving whatever profile/line is there and just sanding it smooth for a finish.

I haven't looked at it long enough to decide what to do on the ends, but I'm definitely not going to just 'square it up'. I want it to be more 'organic' if that makes sense.
 
If the bark was intact all the way around, I'd probably leave it as is on the edges, but right now I'm thinking more along the lines of debarking the edges, leaving whatever profile/line is there and just sanding it smooth for a finish.

I haven't looked at it long enough to decide what to do on the ends, but I'm definitely not going to just 'square it up'. I want it to be more 'organic' if that makes sense.

I like that idea too! :thumb:

Would making a "staple" with a bent nail hold the crack? You could just put the dutchman where the holes are once you're finishing it. :dunno:
 
It is obviously a humidity problem. Your best bet would be to store the wood in a more stable area..........like Nebraska:rofl: And as to removing the bark....I can do that and promptly return the bark to you to do as you see fit.:thumb:
 
I have a feeling Nakashima would just smooth the surface, put in some butterfly splines for those cracks, put on some legs and call it done! ;)
Sorry Bill but I respectfully disagree with you, I've seen too many beatiful boards ruined by people trying to imitate Nakashima's work by following that easy way out. (No offence intended) Nakashima got the results he got because he thought very carefully what effect he wanted to achieve, however I have the feeling that later on he wasn't as selfdemanding or selfcritical as previously.

I gotcha! Feel free to post some suggestions in this thread, if you don't mind.
I haven't looked at it long enough to decide what to do on the ends, but I'm definitely not going to just 'square it up'. I want it to be more 'organic' if that makes sense.

I'm glad that you don't think about squaring it up Brent, I would suggest you to explore what shapes and uses you can come up without messing around too much with the shape. Life is not only about tables, and beatiful grain by themselves, your idea should bring that wood to a higher level of beauty, do not fall into the error of letting the wood do all the job. Not easy, not quick and a lot of fear comes with that but the more you think about different uses and solutions the more close you'll be to a great result.

Think about what you want to achieve, a conversation piece? An eye catching one? Something that you can stare at for minutes if not hours? Tables, specially low ones tend to be covered with magazines, bowls, TV remote controls and so forth, so that, that beatiful grain dissapears underneath. So unless you can be disciplined enough not to leave those things on top of it, any flat board would do the same effect don't you think so?
Explore, explore, and when you think you got it, explore some more, before putting a tool on it.
 
I'm glad that you don't think about squaring it up Brent, I would suggest you to explore what shapes and uses you can come up without messing around too much with the shape. Life is not only about tables, and beatiful grain by themselves, your idea should bring that wood to a higher level of beauty, do not fall into the error of letting the wood do all the job. Not easy, not quick and a lot of fear comes with that but the more you think about different uses and solutions the more close you'll be to a great result.

Think about what you want to achieve, a conversation piece? An eye catching one? Something that you can stare at for minutes if not hours? Tables, specially low ones tend to be covered with magazines, bowls, TV remote controls and so forth, so that, that beatiful grain dissapears underneath. So unless you can be disciplined enough not to leave those things on top of it, any flat board would do the same effect don't you think so?
Explore, explore, and when you think you got it, explore some more, before putting a tool on it.

Definitely not a low level remote catching coffee table.

We all know I'm not the type to generally rush into anything and this is no exception. I'd like to really live with the idea of what it 'could' be before making it into something, but it will most likely end up being a table of some sort...

Definitely more of a conversation piece, but I'm not exactly following you on what other kinds of options you might be suggesting.
 
Definitely not a low level remote catching coffee table.

We all know I'm not the type to generally rush into anything and this is no exception. I'd like to really live with the idea of what it 'could' be before making it into something, but it will most likely end up being a table of some sort...

Definitely more of a conversation piece, but I'm not exactly following you on what other kinds of options you might be suggesting.

Well Brent, although it seems that you've made your mind about some sort of table. Why don't put that idea aside and come back to it after exploring some more things?

The question I'd like you to ask yourself is "what if..." i.e. why not a headboard and footboard of sort? an entry hall coat hanger with or without a mirror, a ceiling lamp, a standing one, a wall sculpture, another one mixed with some tapestry knotting to mention a few possibilities that came to my mind. Be wild, be free, allow yourself to step out of the treaded paths, use some lateral thinking and overal enjoy the challenge my friend.

Once you've done that, if you go back to that table idea ( that you may not) the result you'll get will be far better, and please, skecht, skecht and sketch, even if your drawing abilities are nil. Put your ideas on paper it helps a lot.
 
Well Brent, although it seems that you've made your mind about some sort of table. Why don't put that idea aside and come back to it after exploring some more things?

The question I'd like you to ask yourself is "what if..." i.e. why not a headboard and footboard of sort? an entry hall coat hanger with or without a mirror, a ceiling lamp, a standing one, a wall sculpture, another one mixed with some tapestry knotting to mention a few possibilities that came to my mind. Be wild, be free, allow yourself to step out of the treaded paths, use some lateral thinking and overal enjoy the challenge my friend.

Once you've done that, if you go back to that table idea ( that you may not) the result you'll get will be far better, and please, skecht, skecht and sketch, even if your drawing abilities are nil. Put your ideas on paper it helps a lot.

Good ideas there Toni.

I have the slab in a prominent spot in my garage and will continue to look at it and see what sorts of ideas come to mind... :thumb:

And trust me, I'll be making exact models of the slabs in Sketchup to use for any designs I come up with. I'm not so great with pencil and paper, but I do pretty good on the computer...

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter. I trust your artistic (and design) sensibilities and will take your suggestions to heart.
 
Good ideas there Toni.

I have the slab in a prominent spot in my garage and will continue to look at it and see what sorts of ideas come to mind... :thumb:

And trust me, I'll be making exact models of the slabs in Sketchup to use for any designs I come up with. I'm not so great with pencil and paper, but I do pretty good on the computer...

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter. I trust your artistic (and design) sensibilities and will take your suggestions to heart.

Do yourself a favour, change its position every now and then, upside down, front to back, tilt it left to right and front to back, you'll see that with every different position more ideas come to your mind.
 
I see two ends of a bench.......


If you do decide on a table. Think about an orgy of twisted tree roots or limbs holding it up instead of more of the same as the top.

I have a redwood liveedge crotchcut table I did this way, and have enjoyed the randomness of it for 25 years now. I do put my remotes on it though...

I can't post pics, but I can send them to a email address if you decide you like the root idea.

The other Larry
 
Brent,

Just my :twocents: , for the crack, if you took the 6" stretch wrap and wrapped that end real tight, maybe put a popsicle stick on the top and bottom if you are worried about it not being able to breath and that might stop it from spreading any further. If you were going to trim the end a little, I might take a small butterfly or 1/4 or 3/8 piece of wood inlayed in the end grain, or just staple a 1/4 piece of wood to the end grain bridging the crack. If you use 18 gauge staples you should be able to pull them out with out the holes being noticeable in the end grain.


Nice pieces of wood!

Brian
 
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