# slab flatten freshly cut slab?



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

i was told by a local wood worker that I shouldn't try flattening a slab that was cut from a tree trunk last week until its dried. Its like 4" thick 30" diameter. instead of sitting it in my basement for 4 years to dry, i wanted to flatten it with a router to about 1-1.5" and then let it dry.

Do you guys see a problem with flattening a freshly cut slab?


----------



## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

You can certainly have it dry much faster if you cut it down to 1.5" or less to dry but whatever you do now, know you'll be flattening it again after it's dry. Are you planning on taking 2.5" - 3" off with the router alone?


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

i was thinking of taking the 2.5" off with the router alone. Is that bad? I know it'll take a long time, but I don't know of any local places with a 30" planer.


----------



## pontic (Sep 25, 2016)

Best to let it dry at the 4" thinner green wood will warp and wtist at a greater rate than thicker wood. Yes it will dry faster but you are cutting away any fibers that are countering the warping forces as the wood drys.
Take it to someone that has a kiln.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Any idea on how long a 4" by 30" slab would take to kiln dry?


----------



## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

It would likely take a very, very long time to plow off that much wood even with a large router. Finding a mill and having it milled down to close to your desired thickness then let it dry for a year and a half or so and flatten it after the MC stabilizes.


----------



## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

If it is 4" thick and you need 1"1/2, have it cut in two 2" ( minus the kerf) slabs before drying.


----------



## Snipes (Apr 3, 2012)

What sylvain said.. You surely could flatten it some, but you'll have to do it again after it dries.


----------



## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

You're wasting your time at this point.

I suggest you have the slab resawn into 2 boards & put in stickers. I suggest banding them together with straps while they are drying.

If you can have them kiln dried ok, but you have to be careful with that.

Personally I always prefer air drying. You don't have to worry about case hardening & I think the wood has a lot less stress and is more stable.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Why do you say i'm wasting my time? If the board would be 2" thick, wouldn't it take far less time to air dry?

Or should i have it kiln dried at 4" and then flatten it from there?



> You re wasting your time at this point.
> 
> I suggest you have the slab resawn into 2 boards & put in stickers. I suggest banding them together with straps while they are drying.
> 
> ...


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

I'm totally new to this slab stuff and wood drying. Does anybody have a good resource that I should read to learn some of this stuff, instead of just asking questions blindly?


----------



## JeffHeath (Dec 30, 2009)

A great place to start is with the authority on the subject….."Understanding Wood" by Bruce Hoadley. It's the "bible" for everything related to wood, working it, and how it behaves as it dries, etc…...

Where do you live? Your best bet, if you don't want the 4" thickness, is to have it resawn into two 2" slabs. Twice as much fun, and 2 projects instead of one. Either way, you can't do anything with the slab "green", which is freshly sawn.

I own a sawmill. My LT40 has 26" between the guides. If your slab is wider than that, you need to find a mill with the appropriate sized throat for your slab. Resawing the slab is a far better use of the resource than wasting away half of it.

Using a router sled to reduce the size now is a useless exercise for you because the slab is going to need to dry before it can become stable enough to mill.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks Jeff. I live in central Wisconsin.

I'll buy that book on Amazon right now.

I'll try contacting a local mill to see if i can have it resawn, I completely agree if it is thick enough, might as well resaw it and have a 2nd piece. I said it was 4" thick without actually measuring it, it was just a ballpark, if its only 3" then I would think having it resawn would leave the slabs too thin for the drying process. Right now its in my co-workers basement. Its for an art piece for our office.



> A great place to start is with the authority on the subject….."Understanding Wood" by Bruce Hoadley. It s the "bible" for everything related to wood, working it, and how it behaves as it dries, etc…...
> 
> Where do you live? Your best bet, if you don t want the 4" thickness, is to have it resawn into two 2" slabs. Twice as much fun, and 2 projects instead of one. Either way, you can t do anything with the slab "green", which is freshly sawn.
> 
> ...


----------



## JeffHeath (Dec 30, 2009)

I'm in Northern Illinois, south of Lake Geneva. If it's less than 26" wide, and you wanna make a drive (when it's a little warmer out) bring it down. I'll saw it for you.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks for the offer. I'm pretty sure its 30", but perhaps some other time I could swing by? I'd love to see that in action, it would be neat for my boys too (5 and 2.5 years old)


> I m in Northern Illinois, south of Lake Geneva. If it s less than 26" wide, and you wanna make a drive (when it s a little warmer out) bring it down. I ll saw it for you.
> 
> - Jeff Heath


----------



## avsmusic1 (Jul 10, 2016)

Just to clarify, this isn't a cookie, right? It's a 30" wide board w/ 2 live edges?

I ask b/c in the original post u say diameter and I don't see the length listed anywhere (may have just missed it)


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

crap, perhaps this isn't a slab and i'm misleading people.

Somebody cut a tree down. They sliced off 4" of the trunk for me. The live edge is on the outside. Top and bottom of the "slab" as i called it, is freshly cut. So the piece is 4" thick, 30" in diameter.



> Just to clarify, this isn't a cookie, right? It's a 30" wide board w/ 2 live edges?
> 
> I ask b/c in the original post u say diameter and I don't see the length listed anywhere (may have just missed it)
> 
> - avsmusic1


----------



## jacksdvds (Jun 13, 2015)

> i was told by a local wood worker that I shouldn t try flattening a slab that was cut from a tree trunk last week until its dried. Its like 4" thick 30" diameter. instead of sitting it in my basement for 4 years to dry, i wanted to flatten it with a router to about 1-1.5" and then let it dry.
> 
> Do you guys see a problem with flattening a freshly cut slab?
> 
> - steffen707


Why not resaw and have 2 2" boards?


----------



## JeffHeath (Dec 30, 2009)

That's not a slab. You have what's called a cookie. It's all end grain. Be prepared for it to come apart. Most do, unless vacuum kiln dried.

Trendy, but I'm not a fan, as they typically crack badly, and continue to degrade over time, without some very expensive drying procedure (vacuum kiln).


----------



## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

First thing I would worry about is the ring cracking big time. Sometimes you can prevent that by cutting a 2" hole in the middle. The cookie will dry a lot faster since it is end grain so, you may want to slow that process down by keeping it somewhere cool and covering both top and bottom with breathable material like cardboard. Best to tie a rope around the bark and hang it. If you flatten it and create a smooth surface, the evaporation will be more even and therefore less chance of warping. Although, as I mentioned cracking will be your main concern.


----------



## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

You haven't said what the wood is. A 30" cookie of crap wood will still be crap after you dry it. Chalk it up to new experience.


----------



## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

I was thinking the same thing Phil. I would like to guess it's oak.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

What do you consider crap wood? Any wood can be beautiful. And useful.

I haven't even seen the cookie yet, probably pine or oak.



> You haven t said what the wood is. A 30" cookie of crap wood will still be crap after you dry it. Chalk it up to new experience.
> 
> - Phil32


----------



## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

For woodturning it is best to work with wood that has some grain figure. Plain, soft, punky wood is not worth the effort. That, of course, is my opinion.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

I'm not wood turning though. This is going to be a 30" diameter "medallion" sort of hung on a wall.


----------



## Snipes (Apr 3, 2012)

> crap, perhaps this isn t a slab and i m misleading people.
> 
> Somebody cut a tree down. They sliced off 4" of the trunk for me. The live edge is on the outside. Top and bottom of the "slab" as i called it, is freshly cut. So the piece is 4" thick, 30" in diameter


This changes everything


----------



## Snipes (Apr 3, 2012)

Flatten it with router sled as you suggested earlier, sand it pretty, Seal both sides with anchor seal, hang it on your wall and see what happens.
Cookies are tricky to dry, sometimes you win so…....


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

lol, so the more i'm reading, might already be screwed as it wasn't treated with pentakryl or anchorseal right away, lol.

So i guess i'll try the pentacryl stuff as is, and then see what happens. Still ordered that book suggested earlier.

HA HA HA, thought i saw a gallon of pentacryl was $36, more like double. So i bought a gallon of anchorseal and we'll see how things go snipes. Thanks for the tip.


----------



## Snipes (Apr 3, 2012)

Pentacryl I believe is a bit spendy for a piece that size (never used it). Almost all cookies crack. Many a men have tried to stop this, some with better luck than others. One method I have done is to cut to the pith , leaving one big crack rather than a bunch of small.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks snipes, I think i'll just embrace the many cracks big or small and some some kind of epoxy fill thing.

First time working with a cookie, epoxy (on wood) eh, my wood adventure continues. I've read that a cookie takes 3-6 months to dry if 3 inches.

Anybody have any insight on this? I'm cool waiting a year, just don't want to wait 4 years.



> Pentacryl I believe is a bit spendy for a piece that size (never used it). Almost all cookies crack. Many a men have tried to stop this, some with better luck than others. One method I have done is to cut to the pith , leaving one big crack rather than a bunch of small.
> 
> - Snipes


----------



## Snipes (Apr 3, 2012)

With no sealer it will indeed dry rather quickly. Keeping it sealed slows drying and minimizes cracks. I know that's not an answer..? Seems your on the right path


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

yeah, maybe i should re-phrase. I'm going to seal the ends, let it dry slowly, then if it cracks, fill the cracks with epoxy.


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

I probably would not bother sealing the ends. Even sealed with the end grain exposed on a cookie, it will dry much faster than a long slab, Probably about a year, maybe less. A cookie will crack even if it dries more slowly. It will probably crack significantly regardless but ,since it is an art piece, that just becomes part of the art. The problem may be that it will crack in more than one place and come apart to become 2 pieces of art. One way you can try to reduce the cracking that is inevitable is to make a cut through the radius to release some of the tangential stress as it dries but there are no guarantees. As noted, removing the center 2-3" will help relieve some stress as well, if you can figure out how to incorporate than into the art. You could cut a star shape out of the middle for example but do it now before it dries too much. The cracks will start to happen pretty quickly.

I personally would not want to try to remove that much wood with a router but if you've got the time, why not. Just realize that the end grain may be prone to chipping out. Try not to take too deep a cut on each pass and get a good dust mask.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks to everybody for sharing some great info. I'll post back a few shots from my experience and hopefully the final results of our project.


----------



## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

> Why do you say i m wasting my time? If the board would be 2" thick, wouldn t it take far less time to air dry?
> 
> Or should i have it kiln dried at 4" and then flatten it from there?
> 
> ...


Now that I know you're talking about a cookie, not a slab, disregard that. Cookies dry out much more rapidly b/c they are 100% end grain. I don't think there is anything you can do to totally prevent checking and cracking, its going to depend on the width of the piece and somewhat the type of wood.

I would still resaw it if possible just from an economy point of view. Its very important to keep it clamped flat and air dry it. I'd be scared to kiln dry a cookie I think it will crack apart.

There are several products on the market specifically for coating them, but from what I've seen none of them work 100%. Check Matt Cremona's site or info on that.


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks! Yeah I'll try to have it resawn after it dries and I coat the end grains. After reading more into this, i'm not kiln drying, just going to let it air dry in my basement.


> Why do you say i m wasting my time? If the board would be 2" thick, wouldn t it take far less time to air dry?
> 
> Or should i have it kiln dried at 4" and then flatten it from there?
> 
> ...


----------



## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

Here are two examples of cookie cut slabs used as wall decorations. Note that both have cracked nearly to the center rings. Both are several feet in diameter. The first is a slice of redwood - yes it is dyed yellow.










The second is a slice of western red cedar - yes it is dyed blue.










Both of these pieces were part of an exhibit at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum (Washington)


----------



## steffen707 (Feb 14, 2012)

I just got the cookie today from my friend.

Its already got cracks all over and about a thumbhole size chunk of the middle missing. I'm going to drill a 2" relief hole in the middle and coat it tomorrow to try and reduce further cracking. It is beautiful though.


----------

