The wife has put in a request for a live edge slab headboard. Having never worked with wood slabs I'm Looking for a little guidance. There are a couple listings on CL for kiln dried slabs. I'm thinking that's what I want. An 8 foot green slab must weigh a ton. Here goes... Will the bark fall off? What should I seal it with? We are more of a satin finish people. Is one wood better than another? Is it going to crack in half? Don't mind some cracking just don't want it to split in half. I'm sure I could figure this out on my own as I usually have no idea what I'm doing when I start a project but any advice would be greatly appreciated!
This very project is on my to do list. I want to build an entire bedframe with head and footboards though. What species of wood? Usually kiln drying makes the bark fall off. Most kiln dried slabs are put in a kiln to sterilize after already being dried. To properly dry slabs vacuum kilns are used. You want to make sure it's actually dry all the way through wich can be difficult. So looking or asking the right questions about drying are important. If it's been dried properly it shouldn't split or crack or warp. Slabs do move (expand and contract)seasonally more some than others based on species, so how you build it matters. Allowing for movement is important. If you are just hanging it on the wall it shouldn't matter. There are a ton of finishing options. I think most of it depends on wood choice. You can stain then cover with a compatible covering of satin polyurethane. You can Danish oil Tung oil, there is oil or water based options for natural looks. Anilin die is cool.. I like water based polyurethane for keeping wood light colored and more raw looking.
Thanks for the reply. My original thought was to bolt it to angle iron and then bolt the angle to metal bed frame. Now I'm thinking that I'll mount it to the wall to be more sturdy
I have a call in to a guy that sells slabs on CL. Hope to go look Thursday evening. Is there any wood to say away from? I'm kinda leaning twords pine because of the weight.
I've done some live edge work both wood work and lumber. For a headboard, you don't really need a very thick slab 5/4 is plenty. Any hardwood will work and won't be too heavy. Anyways, once you get the headboard finished and either mounted to a bed frame or mounted to the wall, weight becomes irrelevant. FWIW, cherry, walnut and soft maple are less dense than oak or hard maple. I'm currently working on a queen bed with 6/4 x ~18" x ~68" black cherry head and foot boards and they are no problem weight wise. As far as finishing and bark goes, often the bark will partially or completely fall off in the kiln, depends on the species and time of year harvested. I generally would knock the rest of the bark off down to the cambium layer and then you never have to worry about it chipping off as in the picture below. As for finish, I always try to go with an oil-based natural color finish, usually boiled linseed oil +/- varnish (Watco, Waterlox, etc.). I think it give the most depth and I like the wetter look than I get with plain water based polyurethane or polyacrylic. The table below is finished with just varnish oil and it has held up to >10 yrs of spilled food and drink. If I ever want or need to refinish it, just wipe down with mineral spirits and steel wool. Then rub on a new finish.
Thanks for the info. My wife is from Penna. we travel down to see her dad couple times a year. Nice place once you get off the interstate.
I wouldn't worry about weight so much as Mike has said. Are big hardwood slabs heavy?...yeah kinda but their size and beauty make up for it. With pine, it will probably be white pine. It's very stable and stains really well with a conditioner. Imo you want to stain it because it yellows pretty quick. White pine is underated You can make it look however you want and it's usually pretty affordable.
Headed to farm with a band saw mill today. Hope the wife can find something that won't break the bank. Pics to follow
Here is our slab of Norway maple. We payed 50 bucks for it so if I totally mess it up it won't be to much wasted. Started on it with my little palm sander. Gonna need some bigger guns. My bud says he has a belt sander I can borrow. If he can find it!
Warner I see that you already hace your slab and it looks beautiful! In your original post you asked if the bark would fall off. What was told to me and someone please correct me if I am wrong but in order to keep the bark on the slab the tree has to be cut down in the winter time and air dryed.
Thanks the bark is pretty banged up so I'll be trying to remove it. The bark side will be facing the wall anyway so it has become a non issue. As for a finish I'm looking at boiled lindseed oil. I'm gonna trim it down some so I'll use the cuts to experiment on. I'm open to any suggestions...
Boiled linseed is the most traditional finish. Perhaps you could mix in a little varnish or just go with Watco Danish oil It's got a little more protection than plain BLO.
I bought my headboard/baseboard/rails kiln dried with no bark. Two slabs actually, one for the headboard and baseboard and one for the rails.
Thanks for the kind words. It's all walnut. Headboard and footboard are from one 3" slab. Rails are another slab cut down the middle. Lots of good advice here, best of luck with your project, I'm sure it will look great!
That's what I have planned, but king sized. Did you buy a hardware kit for the rails? So it's modular/movable? How did you assemble?
I had an Amish furniture maker I know do the assembly and finish. With that said, he used pocket screw joints for the headboard and footboard into the posts. And yes, it has bed frame brackets on the rails for assembly just like a standard bed. Two part catalyzed satin finish with no stain.
