Hello All:
I am planning a dining table project which will probably start with a 10/4 slab, most likely walnut, about 105" x 52". I am still shopping for the wood, so I may eventually find that I prefer jointing two 26" wide book-matched pieces to get my 52" width.
From that slab, I am hoping to smooth out both sides nicely and clean up the edges (removing the bark but leaving the natural contours of the tree). One of the mills I visited last week (he had some amazing slabs) actually told me there are mills within driving distance (I am near Philadelphia) which can run the entire 52" slab through a planer.
Of course I can also choose to do the rough planing myself, but in either case there will be lots of manual work to be done. My question is this: What hand tools am I likely to need for this project? I have a well equiped shop for the smaller projects that I do, however, I am lacking good hand planes and other tools that this project will certainly demand.
Thanks in advance for anyone's input!