Live Edge Slab Countertop Nearly Done

[jteneyck]

My shop has been at a complete standstill for nearly two weeks while I've battled finishing the walnut counter top. I decided to use Arm-R-Seal on it because it has the best durability of any finish I've tested. Not by much, actually, over EnduroVar and in hindsight I wish I had just sprayed EnduroVar on it. I would have been done in 2 days. I love Arm-R-Seal, but after trying several different approaches I have to admit that I cannot produce a flawless finish with it on a large surface by wiping it on. I tried using the busboy technique, but that ended up leaving swirls which didn't go away. I tried wiping it from end to end but that left ridges, streaks, or thin spots. I never did try thinning it, however, and that might have worked, because that was part of the final solution I used that was so simple I could have kicked myself. I ended up thinning it about 25% with mineral spirits and applying it with a 3" foam brush. It went on so easily, no lap marks, perfectly level. I had a bunch of bubbles initially, but I minimized those by tipping off the finish and the remaining ones popped after a few minutes.

I actually don't know how many coats are on the top now. I put 3 undiluted brushed coats on the bottom. I do know that I used more than a quart of finish, which is crazy, but most of that got sanded off over the course of the endeavor. There are probably about 6 coats on the top now, 3 wiped and the final 3 brushed.

Anyway, here it is after what I hope is the last coat.









Like a lot of my photos, they don't do justice to how beautiful the walnut is but hopefully you can see some of the amazing grain that's in it. I am very happy with how it looks with Arm-R-Seal. I normally don't use gloss and had forgotten how well it can highlight the grain. I see no hint of the plastic look some people complain about, even with about 6 coats on it.

After the top has cured a couple of days I need to clean up a little drool in a couple of spots on the edges and wipe another coat on them. Then I will polish it with automotive polishing compound in a couple of weeks to remove the dust nibs and make it feel super smooth before giving it to the owner.

Thanks for looking.

John

[ianab]

Bet it's looking awesome in person, with all that crazy grain.

I'm just finishing up my new live edge table. It's not walnut , but it is a single piece of cypress Big jug of West epoxy arrived yesterday, so I'm off to fill in some knot holes now.

[Steve N]

Gonna call this slice of life "crazy britches"



I think you did a pretty good job of passing along the wonderful grain, and flawless finish. I think your customer is gonna like that

[Ken Vick]

That is a beautiful top. Your intellect is telling you that the surface is flat but your eyes are saying "you are a fool, that top is undulating".
The lower part looks to me like the entrance to a cave in 3D. I have had my tussles with finishing over the years and can commiserate on your troubles with this one, but in the end, it turned out really nice. Ken

[oakey]

John
what everyone else said that is really beautiful
well done indeed
and the finish looks great
could you share how you clamped up the top I find live edge boards hard to clamp with out serious damage to the edges

[jteneyck]

Thanks Steve. That particular photo is where there was a crotch so there is indeed all kinds of crazy grain. In other areas it's more like undulating waves. And then at the other end there was another crotch in the outer two boards. All three sections came from consecutive cuts in same log, but no two were wide enough for me to just use a simple book match. So I added that center section between two book matched slabs. It just looked the best that way even though the grain match isn't perfect at either joint. Strange, but the color is not quite the same in that center section even though it was one of those three consecutive slices.

The finish isn't perfect but it's pretty darned good for a non sprayed finish, and I think it will look even better after I hit it with some Abralon pads in a couple of weeks followed by polishing compound. I normally don't like high gloss finishes but it shows off the grain better than the satin sheen I normally prefer and this grain just screamed to be shown off.

John

[iublue]

oakey said:

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could you share how you clamped up the top I find live edge boards hard to clamp with out serious damage to the edges

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I am not John but the way I over came that problem when I did a NE table top was I took some 1x10's and 1x4's and put them together to form a U or I guess you could call it a C. The 1x4 ripped to the width of the top plus 1 1/2" for the two 1x10's. I screwed them together, slipped it over the edge, keeping a gap between the 1x4 and the NE. I then clamped it with several F-clamps to the slabs. That gave me a square surface to clamp the two slabs together. Worked great for me.

John, that is some crazy grain going one there. It is a shame you couldn't do a simple book match but you sure made the best of the situation.

[DonJuvet]

I've not gone the route of polishing with auto products. Been to chicken.
I'll have to give it a test run and see what I get.

The wood with all that crazy grain sure does POP.
I like it.
One solution I've considered is 4 pieces instead of 3.
2 bookmatch pairs with the center NOT matched.
The stuff that keeps us being creative.

[jteneyck]

Oakey, I glued them up before I finished profiling and sanding the edges so the clamp damage got removed later. But there wasn't much damage, maybe a 1/16" crush zone on one jaw where the edge was really narrow. On the others where the edge was relatively square to the face you could hardly notice where they were. In all cases, I still had substantial sanding of the edges to do anyway, so they were nice and smooth when I was done.

John

[jteneyck]

Don, I'm rather apprehensive about polishing the top, too. I've done a few tests on some pieces and it seems to work well. I hope it goes as smoothly with the slab. The biggest challenge I think is deciding on where to begin. Logic tells me to start at 600 or 1000 grit and go up to 1500 or 2000 before switching to polishing compound. That would remove and minor surface variations, orange peel, and dust nibs. But I may do a section just with the polishing compound first and see how it looks. The polishing compound is supposed to be able to remove 1200 grit scratches and polish to a gloss finish. The guy at the auto shop where I bought said it would take out orange peel as well. There are no scratches in the surface right now, but it's not dead smooth either and there is some minor orange peel and dust nibs. I'll try it alone and if it works well I'll stick with it. If not, I'll go with the the disks. Even the worst case just means time for me, not money, so there's no real downside.

The problem I had with matching the grain was I only had 3 slabs that thick. The fourth one I cut split down the center during air drying. I had thought of trying to do exactly as you said; two bookmatched sections joined at the center. And unfortunately, two slabs weren't wide enough for what I needed unless I left a lot of sapwood at the joints and I didn't want to do that. That left me having to use three sections, and no combination would give me a great grain match at both joints. So what you see is the best I could do. I'm still happy with how it came out.

After I get it polished I'll take a few more pictures. The edge grain where the crazy britches picture is is incredible.

John