How to plane/flatten large live edge boards bigger than 20"

Sam Keays

Member
Messages
6
Hey there,

I am about to tackle a big project. A customer wants a live edge maple table 96" long by roughly 44" wide. I have a very large slab (4" thick x 24" wide x 100" long) that I plan on taking to the local mill to have it bookmatched, bringing the thickness down to around 2" for each board. My only concern is how will I get it completely flat and level as a finished surface for a dining table. I have a 20" board planer which is not wide enough (I will not be cutting off any edges on the slabs, keeping the live edge profile on both edges of each slab). Any suggestions? I have a 3 1/2" electric hand planer but I'm afraid I'll end up doing more damage than good with it trying to flatten out the surfaces. Possibly build a sleigh for a router?

Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Sam
The Naked Edge Table Company


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Best bet would be router. Your bridge is going to have to be pretty rugged at that span but it's doable.
 
A friend recently built himself a large natural edge counter from a slab I sold him. We got advice from Tod and he then sawed off the natural edge and had the counter planed and sanded at a cabinet shop. The edge was later glued back on undamaged.
 
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