So I have this kiln-dried 8/4 black walnut board that's been sitting in my garage for about 6 months now. It was one of those purchases where I saw the board, loved the figure, and the price was dirt cheap. This board is approximately 5 feet long and 7" wide. I would love to resaw it and make a nice bookmatched top for a sofa table, or two end tables. I am a bit weary, however, as it appears to be one of the outermost cuts of flat/plain sawn lumber. Here is a highly detailed image, courtesy of MS Paint :
I'm pretty sure if I resaw this piece, it's going to be pretty unstable, as far as cupping is concerned. Thoughts?
I had an 8/4 piece of White Ash just like that. What I ended up doing was two fold:
I resawed several 1/4in panels for inserts, and
I cut vertically with or parallel to the 8/4. This basically gave me 2in wide boards that were quarter-sawn. I then glued up two wide to have my stiles, and single for my rails. It sure gave me great straight grain!
That's a really nice chest, Mike. I was hoping to resaw to end up with around 3/4" boards least. I want to leave on board intact for the center of the top, and rip the other one down the middle, to create a bookmatch on either side of the center piece. Really wanted to show the figure off.
I would say go for it. You'll really never know until you've tried it. I did a similar thing with a very large chunk of cherry and ended up with 5 5" pieces that I glued up alternating the cup and have had 0 issues. You could cut that piece and end up swith something that looks like waves on the ocean, and in that case, I think you could still salvage the wood and Mike suggested and use for something else.
Cut it in half, let it sit for a while, see what it looks like. Plane it to thickness, wait and see. If you're good at that point, you're probably in the clear.
"...Cut it in half, let it sit for a while, see what it looks like. Plane it to thickness, wait and see. ..."
Marcus makes a very important point here. WAIT. I personally waited at least a month after resawing, before running it through the planer to final thickness. Patience is a virtue here.
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