How to preserve live edge spalted curly maple?

[Frank Campbell]

I came across several pieces of beautiful spalted curly maple that I would like to make into table tops. Does anyone out there have any experience with preserving the "live edge"......does the bark need to be removed? I'm guessing that the kiln drying has stopped the spalting process, but is there some sort of epoxy or something I should use to really harden the wood before a final finish is applied?

Any help would be appreciated....

Frank

[andy Needles]

I Pride myself in using wood that is less than perfect (but always DRY!). A bead of thin CA glue (superglue) will penetrate and consolidate bark to wood. The other option, is to remove it all. I would defintely treat it with CA before machining it if I want to keep the bark on.

[Mike Parzych]

I've worked with a lot of walnut slabs and always debark them mainly because the bark isn't that attractive unless you're going for a real rustic appearance. There's no big concerns about moisture loss/splitting from the live edge as that all happens on the ends. The sapwood will be softer than tha heartwood, but not so much that it's easily dented, etc. I just finish the edges same as the top.

[William OConnell]

I think live edge looks much nicer debarked. Its also easier to finish and nicer. Note when debarking you have to be painstackingly patient whern removing the bark, I us a very small two cherries chisel and a dremmel with a fine sanding drum. Its worth it. I think George Nakashima is a guy whos work you should look at. His live edge tabletops set the bar pretty high. Google his name
Heres a cherry end table top I'm working on. I have 2 of these and a nice slab for a coffee table