I have a piece of black walnut, about 58" x 23.5" x 2", that I'd like to use for the top of a stand-up desk, and I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the defects. The finish will be shellac; French polished if I can manage the patience to do a surface this large.
Here's a view of the side that, I think, will be the top:
2015-07-22 17.09.13.jpg
Here's a closeup of the knots shown in the top half of the picture above. Can I can fill these with epoxy, maybe tinted?
2015-07-22 17.09.22.jpg
The problems on the right-hand side in the first picture trouble me a bit more. Here's the crack about 2/3 down on the right side. If I have the terminology correct, this is a shake rather than a check. . . the crack seems to follow the grain boundaries. (That's more apparent when looking at it from the edge; I didn't get a picture from that perspective.)
2015-07-22 17.10.14.jpg
The upper right corner bothers me a bit, too. There are the cracks, and the sapwood in that area seems to be particularly soft. I'm inclined to rip about two inches off the right hand side of the board (the desk will sit against a wall, so a straight cut on that edge isn't a bad idea anyway) to get rid of the cracks in the picture just above, as well as this corner. That will leave me with about 21" of width -- a bit narrower than I'd like, but still manageable for its intended use. Thoughts?
2015-07-22 17.09.54.jpg
Then there are some problems that show up on the other side, which I think will be the underneath of the desk top.
2015-07-22 17.10.51.jpg
Specifically, there are cracks (checks) at both ends. I'm thinking of sealing these with epoxy and adding butterfly keys to keep the cracks from propogating. Will that work?
2015-07-22 17.11.02.jpg and 2015-07-22 17.11.13.jpg
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.