Live Edge Split Fix...please help!!!

[Bert Kemp]

I bought a piece of live edge slab from a guy selling them on the side of the road. Can't remember what type of wood it is , but he told me to stand it on edge in the shade to air dry it with out splitting well guess what it split. I wanted to set this on a stand for a coffee table.
can the split be fixed or at least stabilized some how. I'm not a woodworker persay and don't have a lot of tools for wood woodworking. any idea would be appreciated. laymens terms please .
thanx guys

[scott vroom]

Google: butterfly on split wood slab

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bert,

You can also repair splits by filling them with colored epoxy. On some of my turnings that split, I repaired them with epoxy colored with crushed instant coffee crystals.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bert...one thing might help. There are some serious turners in you neck of the woods and bowl turners often use a green wood sealer. Some of them probably have some wood sealer that you could paint on the end grain of the slab to slow the rate of drying down to help try to prevent further cracking. Of course, that means it would take longer to dry before you could use it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Care to share a photo, so we can see what you are dealing with?

[Bert Kemp]

Ken its a slab no end grain would doing the underside work? its pretty dried out all ready, doesn't take long here, days in 80's no humidity things dry very fast.

Bert...one thing might help. There are some serious turners in you neck of the woods and bowl turners often use a green wood sealer. Some of them probably have some wood sealer that you could paint on the end grain of the slab to slow the rate of drying down to help try to prevent further cracking. Of course, that means it would take longer to dry before you could use it.

[Shawn Pixley]

Bert, what you have is end checking. It is splitting along the grain from the end grain cut. The end grain loses moisture faster causing shrinkage and the splitting you see. Putting Anchor Seal on the end grain slows the drying in that area reducing the splitting / checking you see. The slab is losing moisture too quickly.

My thoughts:
1 Anchor seal the ends
2 Consider a butterfly or short-term anchor to reduce further splitting
3 Sticker it somewhere where it can dry slowly with air movement all sides (could be several years)
4 After drying (MC 7-12% in center), patch with butterflies and epoxy
5 Flatten slab and make what you make

This may not work due to the already existing split. Just one man's opinion...

[Doug Herzberg]

Bert, if I'm seeing it right, it's a round, like you would cut off the top of a stump to get it down to ground level, not a slab, which would be ripped down the length of the trunk. If that is the case, the entire top and bottom are end grain, which is going to be difficult to sand and finish, unless you just want to leave the chain saw marks. It would have been extremely difficult to prevent the checking you're experiencing, especially in Arizona, but it would have required sealing the entire top and bottom and keeping it out of the sun for a long time. I wouldn't mess with butterflies in end grain, if that's what it is. Unless you want to make the checks a feature of your table, filled or unfilled, I'd toss it and chalk it up to experience.

[Bert Kemp]

OK yes your right its a round then not a slab it was a $40 slab and I hate to toss it but I will if its the general consensus that I can't save it. I think its pretty well dry it very light in weight . I was thinking maybe take a piece of plywood and screw it to the underside, sand the top down and then fill it with the resin as mentioned. Thoughts?

Bert, if I'm seeing it right, it's a round, like you would cut off the top of a stump to get it down to ground level, not a slab, which would be ripped down the length of the trunk. If that is the case, the entire top and bottom are end grain, which is going to be difficult to sand and finish, unless you just want to leave the chain saw marks. It would have been extremely difficult to prevent the checking you're experiencing, especially in Arizona, but it would have required sealing the entire top and bottom and keeping it out of the sun for a long time. I wouldn't mess with butterflies in end grain, if that's what it is. Unless you want to make the checks a feature of your table, filled or unfilled, I'd toss it and chalk it up to experience.

[Dan Hahr]

I hate to be sound pessimistic, but there is no fixing what you have. As that slice continues to dry, it will crack some more, or at least widen the existing one. Let it dry for a few months and then see what you have. If I were you I'd go back to the guy on the side of the road and try to get my money back. I've had luck with smaller softwood trees drying slowly enough to stay together, but nothing that big. Otherwise, let it dry and make the best of it.

Dan

[Bert Kemp]

Your probably right but getting my money back would cost more then what I paid for the slab

I hate to be sound pessimistic, but there is no fixing what you have. As that slice continues to dry, it will crack some more, or at least widen the existing one. Let it dry for a few months and then see what you have. If I were you I'd go back to the guy on the side of the road and try to get my money back. I've had luck with smaller softwood trees drying slowly enough to stay together, but nothing that big. Otherwise, let it dry and make the best of it.

Dan

[Doug Herzberg]

OK yes your right its a round then not a slab it was a $40 slab and I hate to toss it but I will if its the general consensus that I can't save it. I think its pretty well dry it very light in weight . I was thinking maybe take a piece of plywood and screw it to the underside, sand the top down and then fill it with the resin as mentioned. Thoughts?

Bert. given the tools you listed in your signature block, you could get a 60 grit belt for the Dremel and have a go at it. Go easy, you could burn up the motor if you put too much of a load on it. Once you have it as smooth as you can get it, go through the grits until you're satisfied with the surface. I like your idea about a plywood round on the underside. Resins are expensive, but you could fill the crack with sawdust from your sanding operation or coffee grounds, as someone suggested, or colored sand from a hobby store, or anything you want. These fillers will help reduce the amount of resin you need to fill the gap and add a decorative touch. Some wood turners use fiberglass resin thinned with acetone to bind the filler, but I have no experience with that. CA glue (superglue) might work, but it's expensive, too. Straight wood glue could work, but think ahead about the dried color of the glue (Gorilla white glue dries reasonably clear). Experiment on some scrap to see if you like the look. Sand and finish the experiment to see the end result.

There is a good chance you'll get tired of sanding and move on, but you could still end up with a version of what you were hoping for. Good luck.

[Wes Ramsey]

Bert,

I use Sta-Bond, but I don't really have a brand preference. I will say that you should only go with a quality CA glue that has been triple distilled like Sta-bond or Stick-Fast. A 2oz bottle goes a LONG way for just $4-5. Compare that to the 'cheap' stuff at your local big box, which sometimes runs $1-2 for 5 tubes with .07-.11oz each. As Prashun said, the crack will probably be too big for only CA glue - it could be done, but epoxy resin would fill faster and you won't be overcome with the intense fumes of CA glue. But that's what I would use for the inlace to top off the filler.

Some may gawk at the idea of using a belt sander for a show piece, but around here cedar cookie clocks are pretty common and they are usually done the way a previous poster prescribed. When you have limited skills and limited tools, sometimes you have to use them in unlimited ways

[Bert Kemp]

wow I'm getting overwhelmed with save it , chuck it, and this glue that glue , epoxy, sand it dont sand it.all great advice just going to be a hard derision as to what I actually end up doing. Still waiting for more dry time.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm usually an optimist about my wood, but if it were me, I'd throw in the towel. That crack is huge. That pith is bad, and there are other cracks starting to open up.

Standing the piece up to dry is a trick I've heard about only to get a lot of the unbound water out of freshly milled green wood.