Walnut Slab

[srwtlc]

Been doing a lot of slab signs/plaques lately. This walnut one is one of my favorite. Some beautiful grain and coloring in this one. Wish I had a whole pile of it! ;)

[Joe Porter]

Really nice as always...Besides the signs, slabs like that are primo rocking chair material:D....joe

[Keith Larrett]

That's beautiful!

[scottp55]

Absolutely beautiful work an a droolworthy slab!!!:)
Nice work Scott!
scott

[Tim Lucas]

Beautiful !!

[dmidkiff]

Words to live by. Beautiful work and slab.

[Jerry Carney]

Beautiful, what type of machine do you have and what software? Beautiful:cool:

[srwtlc]

Thanks guys.

It's an '07 PRS Alpha and Aspire, nothing fancy or exotic.

[rogerJ45]

That is an excellent work! Can't wait to learn and make some. The PRS Alpha and Aspire seems a good one to start with. I'll be planning the machine right after we finished installing the Moto metal wheels (http://4wheelonline.com/Moto_Metal_Wheels.67133) and new tires on the current truck project.

[Jerry Carney]

Again beautiful piece, what text did you use for this project? How thick was your slab?

[srwtlc]

This slab was 1-1/8" thick. The cursive font was a combination of Black Jack Script and a trace of high res photo of the font used on their invitation. I made the A, t, and h's from that and then welded it all together. The result was then very close to what was used on the invite.

[bryan]

Wow, me like a whole lot!

[khaos]

Scott that is just beautiful. Bravo my friend.

[khaos]

That is an excellent work! Can't wait to learn and make some. The PRS Alpha and Aspire seems a good one to start with. I'll be planning the machine right after we finished installing the Moto metal wheels (http://4wheelonline.com/Moto_Metal_Wheels.67133) and new tires on the current truck project.

Like these?
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30544&stc=1

[cowboy1296]

No wonder I value your opinion so much, that is beautiful. And to think some people use black walnut as fire wood. I have a piece big enough for an end table top 2 1/4 thick with live edge on 2 sides. Its been ripped glued and sanded and i have no idea what i am going to do with it.

[srwtlc]

I have no idea what i am going to do with it

I'll send you my shipping addresss, that should take care of the terrible situation you find yourself in! :D

[cowboy1296]

Not in this lifetime but it shows that you are thinking

[steve_g]

“And to think some people use black walnut as fire wood”

Just last week we salvaged some walnut from a burn pile…
We converted it to 47 slabs that will make coffee/end tables.

I sure wish we could have found this situation before the tree was cut into 3’ and 4’ lengths!

SGhttp://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30548&stc=1http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30547&stc=1

[cowboy1296]

man i would be like a kid in a candy store

[srwtlc]

Here's another slice off the same log. Kind of a strange request, but that's what they wanted. ;)

[scottp55]

WOW....Just makes you want to run your hands over it! :)
Great finish sanding!!
What IS the finish?
Did you enter a pic into App Data folder...or was it a VERY careful bunch of measurements?
I think the canning/root cellar is NEAT! The grain and color really helped it there.
REALLY love this work you're doing!!! :) :)
scott

[srwtlc]

Hey Scott, thanks.

The finish is a couple coats of Sherwin-Williams Hi-Build pre cat lacquer dull rubbed effect sheen. Sometimes it may be three coats since the first serves as a sealer for the black ink and then gets sanded down to remove overspray. The dark glaze in the relief as well as the black ink, is applied between coats, so it's then locked in.

With these, I generally take a photo of the slab (looking straight down while standing on the table of the machine) and then load it into Aspire and scale it to match the size of the slab. This then gives me a canvas to work on for size and placement. I either zero the xy in the center of the file or off some feature on the slab, like a small knot or something. Sometimes I just make the relief in a separate file that has the datum in the center and just zero out the machine on the slab at the place I want the relief to be. It kind of depends on the shape of the slab and what's going on it.

[Keith Larrett]

I either zero the xy in the center of the file or off some feature on the slab, like a small knot or something. Sometimes I just make the relief in a separate file that has the datum in the center and just zero out the machine on the slab at the place I want the relief to be.

Thanks! I've been zeroing to the center of the file and it is sometimes tricky to find the center of the slab once it is on the table. Zeroing to a small feature on the slab is a great idea.

[scottp55]

Thanks Scott!
May use those techniques(on a Tiny scale) with some of the firewood I'm playing with:)
Need to cut some thicker butterflies, and skim these before taking pictures for Application Data folder.
Wonderful pieces you've got.
You did them justice!! :)
scott

[cowboy1296]

Let me hi-jack your post to ask for some help regarding a slab. My dining room table is made out of a slab of bubinga about 2.75 inches thick. It has developed a check that is running more than half way through the slab. I have watched this grow over the past few months. I do believe that it will run the entire length of the table. My first thoughts were to use a pipe clamp to squeeze it back in place and glue it, but have yet to try that. It to big to drag it into any shop so i have to try and work on it in the dining room. Anyhow any thoughts or suggestions and thanks for letting me hi-jack this post.

[Tim Lucas]

Sounds like its drying the rest of the way. my experience has been if you want to glue it back you need to cut it through the check then glue it. most likely not what you wanted to here, sorry
Tim

[srwtlc]

I don't know that you'd have much success with gluing and clamping if it's a wide split. If it's not, then maybe. You could use a hand held router and some butterfly templates to inlay some butterfly keys perpendicular to the crack. If you don't want that on the top, you could again use a template and rout some countertop bolt pockets on the underside to pull it together.

[cowboy1296]

well no matter what i do i need to do it fairly soon or i will have two pieces. It took 4 healthy men to bring it into the house so taking it out of the house is not my favorite idea. Thanks for the responses.

[waynelocke]

You must have a slab which is not dried very well. If it is a progressing crack you are not going to be able to stop it. The forces are too great. Butterflies will, at best, transfer those forces resulting in warpage or another crack. Since it is not a client’s table, I would leave it for a few years if you can and see when and where the crack stops progressing and then assess what to do. After it finally stabilizes then you can butterfly it and maintain the crack if you want. Is it also bowing or warping anywhere?

I suspect that that the popularity of slabs right now has added some suppliers who don’t have the knowledge,experience, or care to properly dry large thick slabs.

i once did it a 14’ bubinga slab conference table. The top took less than 1/8” off in the flattening. It was in Houston on the 8th floor of an 11 story building when hurricane Ike ripped the roof off about 8 or 10 years ago. Water dripped on the top for three days and it remained in the building for almost six months of demolition and reconstruction and bowed and warped less tha 1/8”.

[srwtlc]

Last of three slices of the same log....

[dmidkiff]

Very nice. What wood is in the inlay?

[scottp55]

You did justice to those gorgeous slabs Scott!! :)
Oh...straight inlay, or VCarved?
I hope you're looking for more of that wood...work you can be proud of!
scott

[srwtlc]

Some cherry for the inlay and it was a straight inlay 0.1875" deep using a 0.0625" EM for the profile and cleared with a 0.125" EM.

[Taprock]

Very nice, indeed. Almost looks like a hand with a thumbs up!

[Simon Anderson]

Oh man, that's nice!