Finishing Endgrain Maple

[George Brown]

I have a piece of maple tree trunk 4 ft across, cut horizontally, 3 inches thick, so it is all end grain. I surfaced it, and will sand it to 220, any suggestions on how to finish it? I want the grain and spalting pattern to show through.

Also, the edges, which is now face grain, need to be cleaned up. But the piece has some nice undulations as the tree grew, and some bark inclusions which might be impossible to remove since they are so deep. At a loss to decide what tool to use to clean/sand the edges with? Just want to remove a 1/4 of inch or so to expose clean wood.

Eventually want to make it into a table.

Suggestions?

[Scott Holmes]

Is it completely dry?

[George Brown]

Unfortunately is may not be completely dry, though it is several years old. I will have to get a meter and measure it.

[Prashun Patel]

Unless it's already stable and dry, it's likely going to crack and split something fierce. Your best bet to minimize that is to slather it in a wax emulsion like Anchorseal. If that's not possible, I'd put it in a plastic bag, opening it every day for air exchange, for a couple weeks, then switch to paper. Anyway, the point is, you have to find a way to slow and even out the drying.

If it's dry, then a nice varnish would make a great, and clear table top finish.

As for cleaning up the sides, you can use an angle grinder with a flap wheel or wire cup brush. There are a couple threads here that explain the process. Google 'cleaning live edge slabs'. As for any checks and splits in the face grain, you can leave them be or fill them with epoxy or a mix of epoxy and colorant or epoxy and wood dust.

[George Brown]

I did seal it with wax emulsion when it was first cut, but it still has significant checking which I am not going to try and hide. Will fill with colored epoxy and use it to add more character. It will have a rustic look which is fine.

Did not think of the wire brush, will look that up, thanks.