Proper finish for "Au Nautral"

[Jonathan Szczepanski]

I have been asked to make a coffee table out of a slab of wood from a client. This slab of wood is a cross-section of a red oak tree that the client would play in when she was a child. She would like to keep the slab as "natural" as possible, meaning she wants to keep the bark on the slab.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of how I could finish the slab and maintain the bark on the outside? Do you have any specifics as to:
- Type of finish?
- Application techniques?
- Pitfalls to avoid?

Thanks in advance. Below are some pictures of the slab.

[Brian Hale]

Jonathan, others will help with the finish but my concern is drying a section of log like that. It looks like it's already begun to crack and split, mainly because the outer surface is drying at a faster rate than the inside. I suspect it'll get worse before it gets better. Is that Ok?

Ideally you'd want to cut the log and seal it right away to even out the drying process.

Brian

[Doug Shepard]

What Brian said. You might want to throw a couple quick coats of Behlens Seal-Coat (dewaxed shellac) on it until you decide what finish you want on it. Most anything will go over the Seal-Coat and it's about the palest shellac around so wont change the color much, if at all. In the meantime it might slow down or stop the checking.