Hi folks.
My cousin uses a wood-mizer, and gave me a deal on a whole pile of walnut slabs. Each board is around 8-10 feet long, with widths that vary from 7-14 inches. The challenge for me is that he ripped the slabs at 2 inches thick, which is way thicker than the projects I have in mind. I want to rip my 2" boards in half to have 1" planks that I can then plane down to 3/4" for a coffee table. How can I achieve this? I figure making a rig for the band saw is my option, but I figure the height of the blade might max out at 10" or so. Other ideas?
Let’s start with terms. If you’re wanting to take an 8/4 slab (2 inches thick = 8/4) and make it a 4/4 slab (1 inch thick) you need to “Resaw” the board.
Resawing a board wider than 2-3 inches will typically require the use of a bandsaw. The Laguna in our shop has a throat 18" in height, and the maximum width is probably closer to 12"-14". To handle a slab in the size you are talking about, will be difficult at best on our biggest bandsaw, and you will go though a lot of blades. The 3/4" thick blade on the Laguna is a bit too small for 8/4 slabs, and the motor is somewhat underpowered.
If you want to try it at DMS, plan on doing just a few Boards at a time, and bring your own blades. You need sharp blades to do resawing well. The ones we stock get used and abused, and are unlikely to make decent cuts that size without ridging, burning, and wandering cuts.
If you’re planning to do whole bunch, you’re going to need a bigger saw. Bear in mind, 8/4 slabs of Black Walnut, if nice, are worth substantial dollars. I would check with one of the nearby sawmills, to see what they would resaw them for, ask advice, etc. You’ll get better info from someone performing this operation routinely. I would also check at the local stores stocking hardwoods to see what they might pay for them.
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That makes good sense. Thanks for the education @Tapper . I’ll stick with going off-site and having a shop do it. Any recommendations would be helpful. I haven’t really made the rounds with sawmills or stock yards. Thanks a bunch.
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Most projects I build are from 8/4 walnut. If you decide to sell some of it please let me know as I’d be interested.
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I also am interested in buying if you want end up selling some.
Another option is straight line ripping 1" boards on the table saw from the slabs, yielding 2" (original thickness) by 1" boards. You would lose any grain continuity this way, and I honestly can’t picture in my head how the grain would look – I’m worried it would look ridiculous. You would also lose 1/2"-1" from your rips (blade kerf).
8/4 walnut is coveted, as you can tell from the replies above. Might I suggest using it as 8/4 to make your table instead of resawing to 4/4? Less work, more wood. We all like more wood. For the record, resawing is the right way to get what you want.
Also good thoughts @MathewBusby. This is what I’m gathering. For a dining table top project, if i start with my 8/4s, do I predetermine the final thickness as a target (say 1.5"), and then plane them all down to that? Or does it all depend on the boards, plane them one at a time, and then see where I’m at? I just don’t want to lose a ton of wood to the planer. Thanks all.
If I was starting with what you described and wanted the thick top possible:
I would joint a face and an edge of each slab. If you have ones too wide for the jointer, you can joint an edge and rip it to a more suitable width and then joint. Figure which slab is the most narrow, rip all to that width. You now have boards of matching widths!
Plane all to the same thickness. If you have ones that are obviously thicker, I’d start with those. I would run every board through the planer at each thickness setting. When they’re all completely planed, you’re at your maximum thickness and they should all match.
Glue it up.
Some folks will plane before ripping to width, I don’t think it really matters.
Whether you re-saw or just plane to desired thickness, realize that when you expose inner layers of the wood, those parts are wetter than the outside; boards that thick will move on you (bow, cup, twist) after you work on them like this.
To mitigate, try to remove equal amounts of thickness from both sides. If you re-saw, thereby exposing the wettest part of the wood, you can maybe help by taking up to 1/4 (?) inch off of other side. But no matter what, plan to let the boards sit for several days to acclimate, let them do whatever they are going to do, movement-wise, and re-joint/plane to final dimensions. Your boards are thick enough that you may have to do this a couple of times…depends on how truly dry they are currently.
It’s not clear to me if clamping boards after re-sawing like this and keeping them under heavy, flattening pressure will actually help, i.e. keep them from moving when they are un-clamped, but I suspect it wouldn’t hurt, either. May not be practical given their lengths and widths…
Good luck, though.
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I received them two years ago, and tried planing a few about 1.5 years ago. The first few revealed some wetness in the middle, so I stopped. Since May they’ve been in our new house, stacked like this (pictured), drying even more. So I think they’re pretty dry now. Approaching it by planing both sides sounds wise. I’ll have to preselect which of these 10 or so boards will work best based on shape, etc to get started with the dining tabletop. Thanks for all this input and advise!
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Looks good. I’d usually suggest more stickers (think wall studs…as in at least every 16") but what you have shown here doesn’t look any worse for wear.
Won’t matter how long you have dried them for. Even kiln dried wood that has acclimated to a given environment will move more than a trivial amount if you re-saw it in half if that is that thick. I am not sure if there is a rule-of-thumb involved with this, but if I were you I’d plan on losing about 1/3rd or your stock to planing & jointing activities as you are trying to get it flat, straight, and square. That may be on the high side, depending, but better safe than sorry, I guess.
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Oh my. Look at that stack. Those aren’t slabs son, they’re boards. If you really want 4/4 stock, I bet you could easily sell for good money, and buy 4/4 lumber to replace, and still come out way ahead. 8/4 walnut isn’t so easy to come by.
Take length x width x thickness (in inches) and multiply by 144. Multiply the result by $10 - $12 per board foot. That’s how much cash you have sitting there. Resawing that stock would be a shameless waste!
Should be well dried by now, after 2 years on stickers. Ready to work! And since it appears unsteamed, its worth even more.
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Just one more thing to think about. If you have been storing them in unconditioned space then make your furniture. Then use that furniture indoors, there may be some warping/cupping in the years to come. When I built my daughters dresser 11 years ago, I kept the wood indoors when not working on it. Fast forward 10 years, the drawer fronts are cupping some. I’m not a wood working expert by any means. But you can plan ahead. Others will have input on how to mitigate it.
Not really a woodworker - an admirer of wood furniture… But in my opinion a REALLY thick table made from material would be awesome and would be standout because you don’t find tables that thick.
Heck, I’d probably put rusty band-iron straps around it a lie that it was a turn-of-that-prior-to-last century hatch cover from a ship. If I thought the people were gullible make a up a tale how of either how my family immigrated on the ship and sole it, or washed a shore after hurricane (look up names around 1900, find old photos, frame on wall)/ Maybe say family hung on to it as ship foundered.
Admit you may have ruined the value be refinishing it … nothing like humility and guilt to seal a good tale. Burn a faded “DMS” into it, in roman letters - Latin for ship’s name: daedala mendax societatis translates skillful liar society
I mean “I got it from my cousin” doesn’t nearly cut it, I mean conversation ends there … Unless, this is wood from the tree that some … insert your tale here. Me I’d say it was that local “Hangin’ Tree for rustlers” near the Chisholm Trail near… (you pick). See how many take hands off table.
I know, I’m warped.
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I can say that Rockler sells 8/4 Walnut and it is $10.99 a board foot. I also know that Wood World will buy lumber like this. I agree with @tapper that it would be a crying shame to resaw it since 8/4 walnut is highly treasured, especially if it hasn’t been steamed.
Keep us posted if you decided to sell any.
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Well, being I like tall tales, this looks like a treasure trove of possibilities … but if you want to just build a table, and just satisfied with the “I made it”, then selling it probably makes more sense. Me build a legendary table!