Thread: Advice Please ; 2 Slab table build

A straightedge and circular saw or router is probably your best bet. Even a wide bit of plywood with one jointed edge will do.
Where in Oz are you? I'm happy to run them past the panel saw or CNC (can surface them flat and sand as well if you need, but can't do that for free) at work if you're in Melbourne.

Location updated now , Thanks but Gold Coast is a long way from Melbourne

G'day
I have not found anywhere to have these slabs dressed on the Gold Coast or nearby so
I have been sanding the face as it was nice and flat , I am nearly done on the 100 grit

How far should I go with the sanding before glue up ?
I do not have a workshop and its back the car out and get set up in garage or on driveway each time , so I wish to do as much prep as possible before those 2 slabs are joined and size and weight become an issue

How much to sand the bottom sides ?

I Still need to either find someone with machine to joint edges for glue up
OR bite the bullet and use the router and straight edge , but my longest straight bit is only 38mm and these slabs are 45mm thick
I only want to remove the minimum stock neccessary

I would also have to get a longer straight edge

Could I use the router from both sides ? or Take 2 cuts from the face side ? or is it best to buy a longer bit ?
Problem there is that it will most likely never be used again

Also what glue do you suggest ? I have titebond 3

and as for clamps its either buy ( how many ?
hire ?
make something ?

I will be back at local men shed this week and will see if there are any sash clamps there that are long enough and if so may be able to borrow them

any advice on the above questions or tips in general will be appreciated and welcome as I do not want to buggar up slabs of huon pine this size and quality

I recall seeing an ad on Gumtree a while ago where someone from Jimboomba was offering his services with large size woodworking machines but ad is no longer there , any one know him ?


Garry

By what I am reading in your most recent reply you are heading towards making a table.

I would suggest that for the time being you do not do any more sanding until after these are glued. Normally there is some slippage when gluing up, unless you use some form of alignment to minimize slippage, such as dowels, biscuits, dominios etc.

Before gluing check with a straight edge to ensure that the edges to be glued are not convex. If these are concave a little it should be ok as that is a spring joint. With a spring joint the outer edges will tend not to split along the glue line.

After these have been glued, I would be looking to see how flat the boards are with a straight edge. Then decide how to flatten them, via hand tools(planes) or via a powered method.

Garry, I hope your two slab table turns out something like this one, as it is my all-time favourite table. It was made by Leon Sadubin http://www.leonsadubin.com.au/about.htm

Notice how he put butterfly keys in the cracks and kept the natural integrity of the slabs. Not sure if his design is copyright though!

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

A straightedge and circular saw or router is probably your best bet. Even a wide bit of plywood with one jointed edge will do.
Where in Oz are you? I'm happy to run them past the panel saw or CNC (can surface them flat and sand as well if you need, but can't do that for free) at work if you're in Melbourne.

So many ways to do this...

A straight edge with a circular saw is what I would do too. Aluminium extrusions from discarded doors and windows make wonderful straight edges and can be picked up for next to nothing at recycling centers, and you will use it time and time again.

Also one time I needed a standard 32 mm thick Tassie Oak length thicknessed down to 25 mm. The timber store where I bought the timber offered to do it for $10. Perhaps your local timber store may be able to put the straight edges AND finish top and bottom to uniform thickness for you for very little money.

The butterfly keys shown in a previous post here are very nice. If you don't want to see them you can make the butterflies out of 19 mm (standard thickness) material and hide them on the underside of the table. They would also look OK as a feature on the top. If you are not a purist, then you can use kitchen bench top connectors see pictures.

Benchtop-connectors-available-from-Zipbolt-196915-l.jpgimages.jpg

But that joint is not going to be under any stress to speak of.... The top is just going to rest flat on the table frame/legs. I find that butt joints using normal PVA glue very strong, and suitable in most cases. I'm sure that that would be OK in your case as well. On balance - just get those edges straight and butt join them with PVA is my suggestion.

I hope that this gave you some ideas and is of help.

Jorge

Originally Posted by snapper1

G'day
I have not found anywhere to have these slabs dressed on the Gold Coast or nearby so
I have been sanding the face as it was nice and flat , I am nearly done on the 100 grit

How far should I go with the sanding before glue up ?
I do not have a workshop and its back the car out and get set up in garage or on driveway each time , so I wish to do as much prep as possible before those 2 slabs are joined and size and weight become an issue

How much to sand the bottom sides ?

I Still need to either find someone with machine to joint edges for glue up
OR bite the bullet and use the router and straight edge , but my longest straight bit is only 38mm and these slabs are 45mm thick
I only want to remove the minimum stock neccessary

I would also have to get a longer straight edge

Could I use the router from both sides ? or Take 2 cuts from the face side ? or is it best to buy a longer bit ?
Problem there is that it will most likely never be used again

Also what glue do you suggest ? I have titebond 3

and as for clamps its either buy ( how many ?
hire ?
make something ?

I will be back at local men shed this week and will see if there are any sash clamps there that are long enough and if so may be able to borrow them

any advice on the above questions or tips in general will be appreciated and welcome as I do not want to buggar up slabs of huon pine this size and quality

I recall seeing an ad on Gumtree a while ago where someone from Jimboomba was offering his services with large size woodworking machines but ad is no longer there , any one know him ?


Garry

Garry,

I did not see this previous post - just another couple of thoughts:

I would not bother with sash clamps. Get the two edges to be glued really straight with a straight edge and a circular saw... go fairly slowly with the saw to get a clean cut and take time to get the cut square as well (practice on a couple of off cuts) ... get two or three lengths of DAR 19x42x1800 mm pine (cheap) and place them on a flat even floor, UNDER the two slabs to be glued so that they roughly perpendicular to the joint line - This will raise the boards a little off the ground but the 19x42 pieces will be on the same "plane".

You can now apply the glue and clamp the surfaces together using ratchet straps like the ones that removalists use at several points across the joint line. You can get sets of four for very little money. Be careful to put a little grease proof paper or glad wrap wherever a strap or the supporting 19x42 timber crosses the joint line - or the excess glue will stick to them as well. If your boards are fairly straight (not cupped), then placing a clamp at each end of the joint while the glue dries will also ensure that the joint is perfect all the way along and will minimize the need for sanding and planing afterwards.

As for your plan B: I would not try end to end joining - not ever. Not very strong and does not look good

I hope that this helps.

Tell us how you went

Jorge

Thanks for the suggestions so far
Just an update
I can if desired borrow some clamps from our mens shed ,I could when doing a dry test try both the clamps or / and straps and see what goes best

One board has a convex edge , when middle is touching its a bit under 2mm gap at ends , so that has to be fixed

I have glued a few small end cracks and will just wait and watch how they hold

I will not sand any more on the main face but just sand the back a bit with 60 grit so that it sits flat and any oil I use on the back will be easier to apply

I am also making a hall table which I started just before buying the Huon so as it is smaller I will glue that top ( 3 piece ) first


Garry

Originally Posted by snapper1

Thanks for the suggestions so far
Just an update
I can if desired borrow some clamps from our mens shed ,I could when doing a dry test try both the clamps or / and straps and see what goes best

One board has a convex edge , when middle is touching its a bit under 2mm gap at ends , so that has to be fixed

I have glued a few small end cracks and will just wait and watch how they hold

I will not sand any more on the main face but just sand the back a bit with 60 grit so that it sits flat and any oil I use on the back will be easier to apply

I am also making a hall table which I started just before buying the Huon so as it is smaller I will glue that top ( 3 piece ) first


Garry

Hi Garry - I made these sash clamps (follow link) out of cheap 42 mm pine shorts, and a few 100 mm x 10 mm bolts. I have used them extensively to glue up boards for shelves, furniture sides etc. and for those sorts of jobs I find them a lot better than commercially available sash clamps. Wedges between the bolts and the edge of the work piece do the clamping, and since the clamps hold both the top and bottom of the work, the edges of the pices to be glued together coincide really closely minimising the need for sanding or planing.

Your slab table top may be a bit big for this clamps but it maybe worth a shot

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f44/home-sash-clamps-cheap-pine-short-cuts-168618

Jorge

G'day , Here hopefully are some pics of the end result

Hi Snapper.
They are nice bits of Huon pine. Even got birdseye in them.
I really hope you did not just use P.V.A or titebond etc to glue em up?
Huon is a really oily timber and while those one pack type glues may work at first the huon's oil will sooner or later spit it back out.
Same thing goes for the finish. Don't know what you have used here but huon will spit back single pack finishes eventually as well.
It might be a great timber to work with but it is one of the most cantankerous ones around when it comes to glues and finishes.
On the bright side. Perhaps you used a 2 pack epoxy glue and a good 2 pack finish for it?
I'm hoping.

That's come up really nice.

Originally Posted by artful bodger

Hi Snapper.
They are nice bits of Huon pine. Even got birdseye in them.
I really hope you did not just use P.V.A or titebond etc to glue em up?
Huon is a really oily timber and while those one pack type glues may work at first the huon's oil will sooner or later spit it back out.
Same thing goes for the finish. Don't know what you have used here but huon will spit back single pack finishes eventually as well.
It might be a great timber to work with but it is one of the most cantankerous ones around when it comes to glues and finishes.
On the bright side. Perhaps you used a 2 pack epoxy glue and a good 2 pack finish for it?
I'm hoping.

Hi artful...

Have you come across gluing failures on Huon Pine before? Huon certainly has this reputation, but I'm not sure whether it's warranted. Some think that you absolutely must use epoxy glues and wipe with solvents before gluing. Others have reported using PVA glued cutting boards for 11 years + without any signs of problems...

Originally Posted by Christos

That's come up really nice.

Christos and I ALWAYS agree - including on this matter - and I don't even know him!