I just received an excellent fathers day gift. My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end, this is perfect for a
slab coffee table. I have never made a piece of furniture with a slab
before and I want to remove the bark and leave a live edge. Is there
any advice out there for removing the bark.

"Tom" wrote

I just received an excellent fathers day gift. My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end,

I've thought of a half dozen one liners so far.

My mind is not in the gutter. I can't get up that high.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"Tom" wrote
I just received an excellent fathers day gift. My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end,

I've thought of a half dozen one liners so far.
My mind is not in the gutter. I can't get up that high.

What, you can't stand the thought of a crotch on the table top? Just
admit it...lol.

On Jun 19, 8:50*pm, Tom wrote:

I just received an excellent fathers day gift. *My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end, this is perfect for a
slab coffee table. *I have never made a piece of furniture with a slab
before and I want to remove the bark and leave a live edge. *Is there
any advice out there for removing the bark.

A drawknife is commonly used. I'm sure YouTube will have some videos
that will walk you through it.

R

The draw knife suggestion is agreeable.

Is your crotch green, semi-green or thoroughly dry? (LOL)...
seriously, though.

Sonny

On Jun 19, 5:50*pm, Tom wrote:
I just received an excellent fathers day gift. *My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end, this is perfect for a
slab coffee table. *I have never made a piece of furniture with a slab
before and I want to remove the bark and leave a live edge. *Is there
any advice out there for removing the bark.

I wouldn't use a draw knife, you will carve away the live edge. I
typically just pick at with a cats paw or small claw hammer and break
away any loose stuff but leave any well adhered portion in place. Then
plaster it down with some poly finish.

On Jun 20, 7:26*pm, "SonomaProducts.com" wrote:
On Jun 19, 5:50*pm, Tom wrote:

I just received an excellent fathers day gift. *My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end, this is perfect for a
slab coffee table. *I have never made a piece of furniture with a slab
before and I want to remove the bark and leave a live edge. *Is there
any advice out there for removing the bark.

I wouldn't use a draw knife, you will carve away the live edge. I
typically just pick at with a cats paw or small claw hammer and break
away any loose stuff but leave any well adhered portion in place. Then
plaster it down with some poly finish.

I like to get all of the cambium layer off of walnut, so the white
sapwood contrasts nicely with the darker brown heartwood. I use a
drawknife for the big stuff, but tend to move fairly quickly to a
chisel, used bevel side down with a smooth slicing cut just under the
skin. Lastly I touch up any indented/concave areas with some
sandpaper. Be careful when you sand though; you don't want to grind
dark brown heartwood swarf into your lily-white sapwood. (An air
nozzle helps the inevitable.) Good luck!
JP

On Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:26:58 -0700 (PDT), "SonomaProducts.com"
wrote:

On Jun 19, 5:50Â*pm, Tom wrote:
I just received an excellent fathers day gift. Â*My wife got me a large
black walnut slab with a nice crotch at one end, this is perfect for a
slab coffee table. Â*I have never made a piece of furniture with a slab
before and I want to remove the bark and leave a live edge. Â*Is there
any advice out there for removing the bark.

I wouldn't use a draw knife, you will carve away the live edge. I
typically just pick at with a cats paw or small claw hammer and break
away any loose stuff but leave any well adhered portion in place. Then
plaster it down with some poly finish.

Hold a hammer with both hands (like an extremely dull drawknife) and
use the handle to knock off the bark. Rub and tap, leaving the edge
intact.

--
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball!

We have a guy here in an artist community I see at the once a year
furniture show. He does fine woodwork on the stands/pedestals of
tables of all sorts, and uses natural edge slabs for the tops.

He is much less low tech than you guys.

He hooks up the pressure washer he uses to clean up his outside spray
finish area after getting it pretty filthy, and simply blows off the
bark with water pressure. Works like a champ and only takes a few
minutes. No knife marks, gouges, or careful carving needed. And the
wood is nice and clean, free of grit and all the other stuff that
hides in bark when he is finished.

The end product looks great.

Robert

On Jun 20, 3:11*pm, Sonny wrote:
The draw knife suggestion is agreeable.

Is your crotch green, semi-green or thoroughly dry? (LOL)...
seriously, though.

Sonny

First thanks for all the replies. I would say the slab is pretty
green. Its 2 inches thick and was sawn in Feb. of this year.

He hooks up the pressure washer he uses to clean up his outside spray

Great idea

"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
...

He hooks up the pressure washer he uses to clean up his outside spray

Great idea


Is how logs are debarked.

--
"I'm the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo ..."

On Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:39:41 -0700, "Lobby Dosser"
wrote:

"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
...

He hooks up the pressure washer he uses to clean up his outside spray

Great idea


Is how logs are debarked.

In the field, it's a wee bit rougher on the tree's live edge:
http://goo.gl/bWV7I

Ditto at a mill: http://goo.gl/fysJV

--
"Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty.
There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and
indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration
of virtue. These amiable passions, are the latent spark. If
the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling
the differences between true and false, right and wrong,
virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of
mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?"
--John Adams