Thread: Opinions on table top preperation wanted!!!

A beautiful slab!!

If you insist on filling the "cracks" why not go for a dark to deep blue?? Ground charcoal in a resin mix will do a good job also and the black will match the red nicely.

I would be tempted to leave the slab as natural as possible, but that is a personal thing, and not fill anything.

Sand very well , make sure there are no scratches and use the Feast& Watson as suggested. It's a great product.

Good luck.

I'd be taking a trip down to the local bricky suppliers and seeing what they have in the way of pigments/oxides for their mud.

Works well when tinting resins and they tend to use natural(ish) pastels; I'm pretty sure you can buy a purply-red that's already close to the darker parts of the "eyes."

Natural does it for me on that particular slab , if for any reason you might run out of sandpaper or something you could always send it over to me .

It will look superb when its finished i am sure

All the best Paul , k

One more thing: whatever finish you use, make sure you use it equally on both top and bottom!

It's important for large slabs and vital for large burls.

Go natural. Always puzzles me that the first thing people want to do with slabs is to fill the holes with epoxy. I would even go one step further and have it sandblasted to accentuate it. That’s what I done with this little slab

It's a burl. Unlike a normal slab, they tend to move a lot in random directions and checking can be a serious problem. From the minimal checking on that one, I'd guess 'twas dried and stored in a controlled environment.

Filling the cracks is a lot easier than trying to ensure the interior of the cracks are equally coated with <whatever> finish, to reduce movement and make the piece last.

I'm not saying don't leave it natural. Just that it has it's risks.

Fair call

Awesome, thanks guys.
i really hadn't thought about leaving it natural at all!!! i guess it gives me a bit more scope.
just one question, why is the finishing over the whole slab essential?
i was planning on bolting a 3mm steel plate under the slab as one of the corners of the burl is wobbly and burl, having no grain can be reasonably easily broken, as i have discovered from past endeavors and i really don't want to take such a risk with this one. i would bolt the steel to the underside after i have filled and finished the slab.

thanks again,
jim

You have a great looking slab and it will make a very nice table.

I would go with most of the comments above.

Sand it with a good random orbital sander to at ;east #400 grit. Keep checking to make sure you get rid or any scratches or squiggles from coarser sanding.

I like Feast and Watson Floorseal and it will do a good job on the slab.
But My preference would be an oil finish. Danish Oil - any brand, Ardvos, Organoil hard burnishing oil....will all do good jobs.
Brush a heavy coat after you finish sanding.
Wait 10 minutes then wipe it off with an old T shirt or similar. Make sure you wipe it completely dry.
Repeat this - 4 coats should give you a good sheen and provide protection from hot, cold liquids.
Do the top and the bottom and the sides. On the bottom I would sand to #220 and only give it 2 coats of oil.

or
If you want to be more creative.....
Fill the cracks.
You can buy coloured wood fillers. I might use them if I wanted to match the Jarrah. Personally I think that with this burl it would not look very good.

Epoxy with a stain added to it would do a good job.
The most natural look would be to stain the epoxy black.
Over fill the cavities, let it dry then sand it with the rest of the table and finish as above.

I have seen outstanding burls that have the cavities filled with coloured epoxy.
Red, blue, yellow, silver...... The burl looks like it is glowing.

Try some on a piece of scrap and see how it looks before attacking the big burl. You need to be careful to make sure you get all the bubbles out of the epoxy. You can add heat to get the bubbles out before the epoxy dries.

How long before the project needs to be finished?

wew! thanks for that scally, thats a great help.
i think i have till mid-late august some time to finnish the table so i have a little while although i have trial HSC exams in the middle so i will lose a week or 2.

in your opinion would a brightly coloured epoxy filling look good. at first, a few months ago i was thinking of attempting to melt brass, aluminium or copper into the cracks but then the problem of burning the wood around the cracks became apparent. also, any idea where i might be able to get colourings for epoxy or fibre glass casting resin, would food colourings work or oil paints work???

now as to sealing the surface i do have a 4L tin of organoil danish oil which i got from bunnings for $22 . but will this give a tough enough surface?? i suppose it will

thanks again.
jim

The reason you want to seal both sides equally is so that the moisture can leave/enter both sides at equal rates. Have you ever seen a slab table or countertop that has cupped, bowed or gone wavy? It probably wasn't sealed underneath.

The few extra minutes sealing the underside is worth it in the long run, regardless of whether you're bolting a steel plate underneath.

Originally Posted by puncypanda

in your opinion would a brightly coloured epoxy filling look good. at first, a few months ago i was thinking of attempting to melt brass, aluminium or copper into the cracks but then the problem of burning the wood around the cracks became apparent.

If yu have the patience, you can fill the crack with metal dust (brass looks excellent!) and flood it with CA. Because CA doesn't penetrate far into the dust and you really want it all the way through, it's best to "wet" the crack with CA, press in some dust - only a mm or two - add more CA, then more dust, building it up in layers until the crack is filled.

I say metal "dust" because shavings, such as from cutting keys, tend to be too large to give that "solid" look.

also, any idea where i might be able to get colourings for epoxy or fibre glass casting resin, would food colourings work or oil paints work???

Usually not very well. That's why I suggested brickie's oxides/pigments.

now as to sealing the surface i do have a 4L tin of organoil danish oil which i got from bunnings for $22 . but will this give a tough enough surface?? i suppose it will

Organoil DO will do the job nicely, but it takes time to apply. A good PolyU is more durable (which is basically what F&W floor sealer is) and will go on with one coat but will give the wood a slight "plasticky" feel. Still, if you're going for a mirror finish then no-one - except for one of us wood fanatics - will probably pick it.

The downside with a PolyU is that if it's damaged you need to sand it all off to repair. With the Danish Oil you can lightly sand just the affected area back and then give the whole piece a recoat.

It's a trade=off situation.

If you want to clear fill the cavities Digger's Casting Resin works extremely well, and I've successfully stained the resin with Feast Watson spirit based stains. All available from Bunnies. Be very vcareful to follow the instructions for the Casting Resin to the letter, shrinkage can be a bitch. And when it comes to the stain, less is more, add literally a single drop at a time to get the desired colour. You'll be surprised just how dark the stuff will appear in the burl.