Success With Large Slabs

摘要

Normally, when you build a piece of furniture, you shape the wood to fit the style-ball-and-claw feet, cove moldings, raised panels, and so on. But when you work with a slab, you have to shape your woodworking technique to fit the wood. The slab is the star, with all its seeming blemishes-swirly grain, knots, splits, and sapwood-adding to its character. You may think of a slab as a thick piece that's very long or very wide, or both. Or, you may think that a slab must have a live edge. That's not always true. A slab can be small (or smallish). It can have four sawn edges. It's any piece of wood too big for your planer and jointer, with unique characteristics that you want to preserve and highlight, rather than remove or resaw away.