My most recent project did not require much skill, just much patience. My wife asked me to make a live edge charcuterie board. I dug around in shop and found a slice of dry rough sawn ash.
The first stage was to attack the slab with my hand power planner and my old 3 x 21 belt sander. Both those tools remove plenty of material and make a mind boggling amount of dust. The air in the shop was filled with dust. Both my sander and planner are old models without any type of integrated dust collection. I will replace them, if they ever break down.
Once the rough shaping was done it became a job for random orbital sanders. First I worked with 80, then 120 then 180 grit using up several disks. Getting the board smooth with the sander was a multi hour production. Once I got the surface smooth (ish) I filled the smaller cracks and let it sit over night. The next day was more sanding with 220 grit and then another hour of hand sanding with 400 and 600 grit making the surface as smooth as glass.
To finish the edges I soaked the bark in several applications of water based sealer and then the top got three coats of hemp oil. Each time I flooded the surface and let the oil soak in before clearing it off and rubbing it in.
Though it is not a project that required special skills I am really happy with the results. If I can find another slab like this I think I will do it again.
cheers ianw.
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