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+-- Thread: Cutting big slab (/showthread.php?tid=7345473)
RE: Cutting big slab - MichaelS - 01-23-2019
Tyler, have you considered using one of the two ends (pick before you start cutting ofc
) to "wrap" from the top down the side to the floor? A waterfall effect where it's one continuous slab with a 90* bend at an appropriate point.Can trim off a bit of the end where it'll meet the floor to stabilize and tune the absolute length also.
Just a thought, that's quite a hunk of wood
Best of luck!
michael
ps. if you haven't seen it, the new router slab device that Woodpeckers has come out with is beautiful! I'm sorely tempted, but it's not cheap. $799 iirc for the 8' long model, and can be extended to practically any length, though 8' is all I want.
RE: Cutting big slab - Bob10 - 01-23-2019
(01-23-2019, 11:11 AM)OneStaple Wrote: In what respect? My hope is just to rebuild it so it's usable/functional. That means redoing the glue line properly and flattening the top at the same time. I'd like make a new base for it out of walnut that looks a bit nicer. I believe my grandpa used this as a desk for 40-50 years, so hopefully I can do it some justice and keep using it. Unfortunately, no one else in the family is equipped to even consider messing with it.
Bob - based on the newly measured dimensions, I think the top alone is close to 400 pounds. Eek! I agree that this should be approached carefully and with a plan, but his property has a shop that's nearly as complete as mine (although neither has a large diameter circular saw), so it seems like it's worth going ahead and cutting down the glue line to make transportation easier.
Agreed, and yes, I plan to remove them. I assume someone put them on to give "extra support" to the table or something. Good intentions and all.
Haha, you make it sound so brutal! There's a part of me that doesn't want to touch/cut anything, but there's so much warp to the top that I can't use it unless I fix it. Which means cutting down the glue line and fixing that too.
The bigger question that I'm still struggling with is cutting the length. An 11' table really doesn't fit in my house. 8'-9' is about the most I can do. The concept of cutting 2'-3' off the end makes my stomach turn, but it would otherwise just sit in storage somewhere until we move to a bigger house (unlikely anytime soon). I haven't found a path forward with this that I love, but the best I can come up with is turning a cutoff into a 4-person kitchen table that would double as an extension to the dining room table when we have lots of guests.
Yes, using a track guide with a rented saw is likely the way to go. Although part of me wonders if my 7-1/4" saw will work, given that the glue line on the bottom side of the table seems to be empty.
Thanks all! I'm still open to ideas and am toying with how to best handle this beast, as well as do it justice.
Tyler
Tyler have you ever moved a refrigerator? The weight isn't that big of a deal crate it and go. Much easier to move that by yourself in a crate too.
RE: Cutting big slab - OneStaple - 02-18-2019
Ok, I owe you all an update...
I went back up to my grandpa's estate a couple weeks ago to work on this. I started by removing the keyboard tray and those metal strips. The screws towards the ends of the metal strips were either significantly bent or snapped off on all three strips.
While crawling underneath, I realized that I could see daylight through the glue line in multiple locations. And the glue line was cracked/separated along most of the top side of the table. So first step was drilling out the three butterflies and chiseling carefully to the walnut, suspecting that those were essentially all that was holding things together (with the legs).
No cracking of the halfs, so next step was the legs. We had to drill out the wood plugs over the screws and then carefully back them out. This actually worked surprisingly well, especially since some screws were gummed up with glue and they appeared to be brass. The legs weren't that easy to remove, as they were connected with wedged tenons in fairly deep mortises.
Ok, now the top is free. Surely some "persuasion" would break that glue line free. A couple of grown men walking on the table later (propped up on the floor...don't worry), and nothing was separating.
Hmm, what's that? Using a flashlight in the partly gapping glue line, it was now apparent that they contained splines almost the full length made of 3/4" plywood. Ugh. The use of a crowbar in the holes from the butterflies got the halves apart in short order. Whatever glue was used (if any) didn't have much holding power.
Then four of us carefully maneuvered/carried the two halves through the rest of the furniture in the room and into the truck to take home. The two halves now reside in my basement until I have time to build a full table with a new base. This gives me time to get a larger saw and make sure I do any cuts properly.
So, after all those questions, I ended up not using a circular saw (or any type of saw) at all!
I didn't get tons of pictures of the process, but others in the family were taking pictures. I'll have to get those. My dad might make a "journey of the table" book that contains pictures of my grandpa using it 40-50 years ago, pictures of us disassembling it, and pictures of whatever I create. Could be cool.
Thanks! This journey will continue, but it might be a year or two.
Tyler
RE: Cutting big slab - jteneyck - 02-18-2019
Good job. I'm sure you were pretty darned happy that it came apart as easily as it did and w/o damage. Your comment about those screws at the ends of the metal bars being bent or broken shows how much that top moved over the years.
That's going to make one impressive table. Do it justice and build a base worthy of the top. Good luck.
John
RE: Cutting big slab - Stwood_ - 02-18-2019
Thanks for the update.
Splines...yea...forgot about that possibility
RE: Cutting big slab - FrankAtl - 02-19-2019
(02-18-2019, 08:51 PM)jteneyck Wrote: Good job. I'm sure you were pretty darned happy that it came apart as easily as it did and w/o damage. Your comment about those screws at the ends of the metal bars being bent or broken shows how much that top moved over the years.
That's going to make one impressive table. Do it justice and build a base worthy of the top. Good luck.
John
+1
RE: Cutting big slab - PedroOhare - 02-20-2019
How many people were making natural edged slab tables 40- 50 years ago? Nakashimi (sp?) is the only one I know of. I would definitely get the provenance of that table checked out before I started (continued) hacking it apart.
Pedro
RE: Cutting big slab - FrankAtl - 02-20-2019
(02-20-2019, 10:05 AM)PedroOhare Wrote: How many people were making natural edged slab tables 40- 50 years ago? Nakashimi (sp?) is the only one I know of. I would definitely get the provenance of that table checked out before I started (continued) hacking it apart.
Pedro
That is an interesting question but I'm sure Nakashima would have used better construction methods than used on this one. Still it was a beautiful table.
RE: Cutting big slab - OneStaple - 02-20-2019
jteneyck Wrote:That's going to make one impressive table. Do it justice and build a base worthy of the top. Good luck.Yeah, I'm still thinking through ideas for the base. It'll certainly be made of walnut. There's a lot of mediocre looking bases (in my opinion) out there for natural edge tables. One of the challenges is allowing chairs to be pushed in and people to be comfortable seated around the legs. Another challenge would be if I take a 3' section off for a kitchen table (doubling as an extension to the dining room table), I'd want the legs to be complementary.
MichaelS had mentioned doing the waterfall look. That'd be neat, but it wouldn't allow someone to sit at the head of the table.
PedroOhare Wrote:How many people were making natural edged slab tables 40- 50 years ago? Nakashimi (sp?) is the only one I know of. I would definitely get the provenance of that table checked out before I started (continued) hacking it apart.Yeah, given some of the construction techniques, I certainly hope Nakashima didn't make this table. Between the joints with huge gaps, the metal straps on the bottom side, the legs that didn't match the top, and the huge twist to the top, it's not his level of quality.
When I was taking this apart, my uncle commented that he remembered the log that this table came from sitting in a building in the mid-60's. He thought it was turned into a table/desk for my grandpa's business in the late 60's. My grandpa was an architect that built "with" the land instead of just "on" the land, and he often incorporated natural wood concepts. The staircase in his own house has natural edge cherry slabs for hand rails, and the stairs wrap around a section of cherry tree trunk that is partly opened up to show how the center was rotted out. He loved that sort of character.
I have no doubt that this table was either made by my grandpa (he did some woodworking, although often a little on the rougher side) or that he commissioned someone to take the log he had and turn it into a table. If the latter, he may have used one of the carpentry guys that he had working for him rather than a fine woodworker.
Tyler
RE: Cutting big slab - mike4244 - 02-26-2019
(01-05-2019, 10:22 PM)OneStaple Wrote: Thanks for the ideas, all!
One of those 16-5/16" Makita saws would be perfect! But geez, are they pricey. I'm not sure I can justify buying one, as it's not something I'd need regularly. I live outside DC, so buying/reselling on Craigslist is an option, assuming one appears at a reasonable price. Of course, at that point, renting one would probably be just as easy unless I found a screaming deal on craigslist. My concern with renting is that the blade that comes with it would be all beat to death.
I have a 7-1/4" worm-drive Makita that can cut about 2.5". Finishing with a hand saw might be the easiest path forward, although it'd be a workout still. Or doing a second cut from the back would also be an option.
A chainsaw is another option, but that'd make a significantly bigger kerf.
I'll certainly need to flatten the faces with a router sled (yet to be built). Guess it'll have to be a big one! Jointing the edges will certainly be a challenge. I like the router sled idea, but in my very limited use of (smaller) router sleds, the process didn't really leave a glue-ready surface. I was just using a 1/2" straight bit, so perhaps some of the other flattening bits that I've seen recommended ($$$) would do better.
Read Ianad's post again. I have done this before with success. Cut about 2/3 of the thickness before turning it upside down. This way it won't accidentally come apart when you turn it. Rip blade, 20 TPI will be best.
mike