Burr oak slab

[Big Beech]

Some of you may recall 5 years ago a nice big burr oak I I milled, I've now taken a look at the boards and the majority have stayed within tolerance for working with one way or another.

One or two of the outer boards with some lovely figure has about an            1-1.5" cup in the centre and with the board only 2" tops not enough to run out on a router sled.

So, I am thinking or soaking the dry board in water for a few weeks again, then applying some weight as required to hold fast until It dries.

Is this a reasonable assumption? I may or may not get the full curvature out but it would make working with epoxy possible I'd hope.

Its certainly to good to throw away so any advice most welcome ?

[Squaredy]

Best way to deal with it is simply to slice the boards into two pieces, plane the separate pieces and then joint them.  With the correct equipment this is not difficult.

 

If you are simply looking to sell them I would sell them as is - many of your customers will know how to deal with the cupping.  For a skilled woodworker it is no big deal and will result in a stable slab.

 

Nice looking timber by the way.

[Big Beech]

This is  longitudinal cupping, so same procedure, cut  in half?

[Big Beech]

Sitting here thinking about it, I could I suppose cut in to a quater and resin infill the joints to make it look part of it ?

[Squaredy]

2 hours ago, Big Beech said:

This is  longitudinal cupping, so same procedure, cut  in half?

I assumed you meant cupping across the width of the grain - this is how slabs usually cup.  If it is bowed along its length this is a little different.  Might be worth just cutting up into smaller pieces that can then be planed flat.  All depends on the size - would it still be a good size for smaller table tops for instance?

 

Certainly you can't really cross-cut it and then join it strongly, not without something strong to fix it to anyway.

[se7enthdevil]

how big are the boards???

 

 

[Big Beech]

7ft just under I think without measuring

[Lazurus]

You could throw them my way and save you some work

[se7enthdevil]

6 hours ago, Big Beech said:

7ft just under I think without measuring

and the width???

 

if they are cupped on the width then i'd clamp or bolt them to large section timber to flatten them out a bit whilst you sand the top.

 

if it has bowed down the 7' of length then that will be difficult to rectify.

 

it may not be practical to be used as a single top but perhaps more like two coffee tables???

[Big Beech]

1 hour ago, se7enthdevil said:

and the width???

 

if they are cupped on the width then i'd clamp or bolt them to large section timber to flatten them out a bit whilst you sand the top.

 

if it has bowed down the 7' of length then that will be difficult to rectify.

 

it may not be practical to be used as a single top but perhaps more like two coffee tables???

It is the full longitudinal lenght, the more I've looked at it today whilst wire brushing out the burr, I think I'll cut in to quarters, then I'll level each sufficiently on one face and then I'll leave a gap in between each quarter when i do the resin. 

The cup over the length is 38mm in the center