Buying slabs of timber.

[Russell griffiths]

Evening all. 
I want to build a large dining table from a single slab of timber, I went to a sawmill today to have a look at some and found plenty I liked, they had all thing I’m undecided about is what slab from what part of the tree. 
 

the trees have been cut and then re stacked up in the same position that they came from the tree, so looking at my excellent diagram would you want a piece from the centre like no 4, or 3, or a slab from the outer parts no 1-2 or 5-6. 
 

it’s all about 75mm thick at the moment ready to be surfaced flat on both sides to bring it in to about 60mm finish width. 

[Big Jimbo]

What sort of wood are you looking at ?

[Sparrowhawk]

And what kind of effect do you want from the finished table? The colour and grain is going to be different in those two places.

[Russell griffiths]

32 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

What sort of wood are you looking at ?

There’s all different stuff, i like the look of some monkey puzzle, but the big stuff I want is cedar, not western red, but either Lebanon or deodar. 

[Russell griffiths]

22 minutes ago, Sparrowhawk said:

And what kind of effect do you want from the finished table? The colour and grain is going to be different in those two places.

I’m probably going to stain it, most timbers will be too light for what I want to do. 

[Big Jimbo]

15 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

I’m probably going to stain it,

That is a sin. I spent years making expensive hand built furniture. If a potential client asked me to stain something.......They never became a client.

Celebrate wood, don't kill it.

[Mr Punter]

I thought the outer bits were less prone to cupping.  Is this from Vastern?

[Russell griffiths]

8 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

I thought the outer bits were less prone to cupping.  Is this from Vastern?

Not Vastern a small local forestry company. 

[Benpointer]

On 14/03/2025 at 19:43, Mr Punter said:

I thought the outer bits were less prone to cupping.  Is this from Vastern?

The other way round.

 

Go for slab 4 every time. That's effectively quarter-sawn and stable - cabinet-makers generally pay a premium for quarter-sawn timber.  

 

The only proviso is that, depending on the species, the centre of slab 4 may be split or even rotted out - but if you can see the slabs you can see any flaws.  and you can always cut a centre strip out and joint the two halves, or keep any flaws as a feature - filling splits with resin if you wish.