Recently got a gorgeous piece of black walnut – cut in winter and completely dry now. I really want to preserve the bark, if possible – making this piece into a coffee table
What are some of the best products to preserve the bark? A bit nervous about using epoxy over the whole thing, wanted to see what other options there are.
Replies
You may get a lot of different opinions on this one. But you know what they say, Ask 5 woodworkers a questions and you will get 7 answers. There are a few things to unravel here.
Lets start with an issue you only mentioned in passing. If you are making a coffee table you probably want it to be a couple of inches thick. If it's kiln dried, you might be OK. If it's air dried the rule of thumb is 1 year of drying for every inch thick. If it's not completely dry, as in 7%-9% (if you don't have a moisture meter - get one) then let it dry some more or you will be hating life about 6 months from now.
Bark dries at a different rate than either heart wood or sap wood. If the bark is still attached, that may be a sign you wood might not be thoroughly dry.
IMHO keeping the bark on a live edge table is a dicey proposition. There is a definite possibility that over the next 5 years you will keep finding chunks of bark on your living room floor. This is because a the slab will be in constant motion with the changes in weather (humidity) throughout the year. The bark and wood will react to those changes differently.
So, I guess my advice for keeping the bark on the table is, don't.
Thank you! This is my second project - really appreciate the feedback.
The piece was kiln dried. Going to be removing the bark, it’ll still be gorgeous :D
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled