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When we work with clients on live edge projects, we give them the option of choosing their own slab, or they can set a budget and we will recommend choices that will work. (I’m assuming that the shopping will be done via the internet.) This post is intended to give you enough information to do it either way.
Trees get cut into usable smaller pieces in three formats. Ordinary lumber is made by cutting a log into a variety of smaller pieces, with the mix chosen to maximize the yield of useful sizes:
Veneers are made by cutting a log into very thin slices with a knife:
Slabs are made by cutting a tree all the way through. (The traditional term for this: “en boule”.) This preserves the natural edge of the tree and yields several thick slices. Each one of these is a slab:
People buy slabs because they like the natural appearance of the live edge, and the interesting characteristics of the wood: the knots, the cracks, and the figure. Slabs are lovely to look at and lovely to touch. In our world of highly engineered and polished artifacts, it’s a relief to see an object which hasn’t been transformed beyond recognition by the act of production:
An inherent aspect of slabs is that each is unique. After all, trees are individuals. Each one grows differently from its near neighbors and all others of its species. And, even within the set of slabs cut from a single log, there will be wide variation in size and appearance. Look carefully at the cracks and overall shape and size of these three slabs from one tree:
As you can see, they vary considerably. Take that into account when you look for slabs. The one you fall in love with will not appear again. Temper your expectations accordingly.
Live Edge furniture is popular, and it’s not hard to cut a tree up into slices, so producers have popped up all over. Many of these are fly-by-night operations whose products are of unknown quality. It’s critical, when purchasing any lumber, that the seller has cut and dried it correctly or there will be problems in fabrication and after delivery. How to choose who to do business with? Here’s my list of requirements:
Bad. Good.
The picture on the left came from a lumber dealer in Germany, showing me what I would get if I sent them $7000. What will this look like finished? Who knows?
The picture on the right came from my favorite source: Berkshire Products. They excel at every item on the list. There are certainly other producers out there who are just as good. If you are considering a different source, use the checklist. Most of all, if you just want to see cool wood with all of the information you need to make a good decision, try Berkshire.
When you start looking at slabs, you may experience severe sticker shock. Thousands of dollars for a chunk of wood? Why? The primary reason is demand: people want them, and prices are skyrocketing accordingly. Contributing from the supply side is the difficulty of production. Cutting a tree into slabs is the least efficient way to use it. A given tree might produce 4 to 6 slabs, or a couple of hundred board feet of lumber, or several thousand square feet of veneer.
Also, solid wood is sold by volume, not area. Thicker pieces have more material.
Slabs are cut in various thicknesses, from 1” to 3” or more. So, the thicker the cut, the more expensive the slab will be.
In addition, wood has to be dried before it can be made into furniture. A common rule of thumb is that slabs of wood require a year of drying per inch of thickness.
How does all of this work out in real life? Let’s say I wanted to make a walnut table top that is 42” wide and 96” long and 2” thick when finished.
Medium grade walnut slabs
Price for the slabs alone, without shipping? $3037. Ouch. And that’s before fabrication has started.
It’s entirely reasonable to set a budget first, and then find a slab that’s in that price range. I would love to give you a quick rule of thumb, like the overall cost of the table, would be double or triple the slab price, but it doesn’t work that way. The cost of a table base will be independent of the cost of the top, and the cost of finishing is mostly driven by the overall size of the table.
That said, here’s a reasonable formula: The least expensive slab tables end up costing about $800 a foot in length, and there are many choices of different woods for $1200 a foot in length, and the super premium woods may drive prices closer to $2000 a foot in length. Furthermore, truly spectacular slabs can cost more than that.
There are ways to save money when buying slabs for table tops. They can be sorted into two groups:
For this project, I decided to make two conference tables. One would be made from a single piece of wood while the other would be made from a pair of slabs cut from the same tree. (This will allow me to make a wider table, which is useful for maximizing seating.) In July of 2017, I fired up my browser and started browsing the Berkshire Products. website. And, after a couple of hours, I ordered my slabs. First, a very nice piece of ash:
Very nice Ash slab
This piece cost me $2401. It’s big enough to make a table about 9 feet long, averaging 44” wide.
My second purchase is a pair of American Elm slabs, seen here partially wetted to show their coloration:
American Elm bookmatched pair of slabs
The pair of slices cost me $1516. (That’s half the cost of the pair of walnut slabs seen above, for slabs of similar size and with a better figure.) And, shipping for both of these was free. They’ve been sitting in my shop all summer, and now it’s time to make tables.
In part 2 of this series, I’ll walk you through the design decisions I made before starting work. And, in part 3, I’ll show you how we make a slab table.
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If you haven’t already, please look through our gallery of custom conference tables. You can choose any of these designs as a starting point for your project, or you can submit your own designs. For help designing your custom conference project, contact us today at 610-239-0142 or info@pauldowns.com.