Thread: Tallowwood prep and finish suggestions.

Well, unless you have a really big jointer, you'll probably want to flatten one side of it with something equivalent to a #5 or #6 plane and then a #7 or #8 plane. There's information about how to do this online, so I'll just give you the most important pointer which is make sure they are sharp.

The other side can probably be done in a wide thicknesser or a drum sander. If you don't have that available, you can do a pretty good job with the same (sharp) planes you used on the first side.

As far as prepping for finish, I've only used Tallowwood for a couple of small parts on my workbench, but it planed and scraped so well that sanding was unnecessary. Because it's so greasy, it's very easy to get a finish ready surface off of a (sharp) plane or scraper.

I used an oil finish (Cabot's Danish Oil from Bunnings) and it worked great. As with an oil finish on any open grained wood, you want to monitor it for the first hour during the first two or three coats to make sure you get rid of any of that squeeze-out that tends to occur on the surface.

Otherwise, fairly straightforward. If you're in Brisbane, another option would be to take it down to Wood N You and use their industrial scale machinery to do it. You can rip off one edge on their sliding table saw and then use their planer/thicknesser combo machine to do the rest of the work. I would estimate you'll pay around $75 to do that.

If you're not in Brisbane, there may be some kind of similar business in your area.

Hope that helps,
Luke

After re-reading your post...

If it's been down several years it's probably well and truly equilibrated, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it's already started to check/crack at the ends, sometimes it's worth stabilizing that with some kind of steel fastener on the bottom, or embellished, bowtie keys on the top (or bottom I guess).

I've never used a sealer.

I also don't really feel like Danish Oil leaves a greasy surface, but maybe that's a matter of personal opinion. Perhaps try thinning the first couple of coats out? Or making sure you wipe it more thoroughly than you have in the past?

Good luck,
Luke

Thanks for the tips.

The slab some a water stain which will need to be taken out via sanding or planing. I was going to cut the slab to size with my plunge saw.

There is slight splitting on one side, but not major. It won't be in the table offcut.

With the offcut, I was going to maybe make a butcher's block/ chopping board.

Would you recommend roughly cutting it into the two slabs now. Even though we might not progress with the project for a month or so?

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