The popularity of and interest for live edge slabs has expanded dramatically throughout recent years. Live edge pieces are the raw material that can create a character or presence to a room. There are companies out there offering green slabs to inexperienced and unknowing buyers. The wise counsel of "you get what you pay for" applies here. Here are the main three things you want to be aware prior to purchasing a live edge slab and why it is to your greatest advantage to purchase from Lakewood Live Edge a company that has the heavy equipment and hardware to provide and prepare your slabs.
One: Bandsaw is Better When Buying a live edge slab.
Alaska chainsaw mills are a nice tool for separating a tree that has fallen into more manageable pieces. However, cutting slabs into a finished product on one of these can prove to be quite difficult. Frequently cuts are not exact and the chainsaw can leave profound gouges in the wood which will require sanding or to be planed later. Buying a 2" thick slab with grooves or one that is warped cracked or checking can result in a completed piece that is 1" thick or less when you are done. That is a significant amount of sawdust you are buying. A bandsaw has a much slighter edge that makes exact and smooth cuts when worked appropriately. A smoother slab provide you with more useable material. Thus, while you might pay less per board foot for a chainsaw milled slab, you will wind up with more useable material that is simpler to work with from a company that uses an industrial bandsaw mill.
Lakewood Live Edge has an industrial size bandsaw mills and can cut massive logs up to 67" in diameter. Our sawyers have decades of experience, and there's basically no tree they can't deal with.
Two: Kiln Drying is a Must while purchasing a live edge slab.
Kiln dried slabs don't have bugs.
At the point when a tree is first chopped down, it can have a dampness content going from 30% to more than 100 percent (it is true!). In this condition, the wood is entirely unsteady, and is inclined to checking (breaking) and cracking. Kiln drying brings the moisture content down to 6-10% for slabs depending on the species, to ensure it's ready to be worked with. Sadly, many individuals accidentally purchase slabs that are said to be "dry" that really aren't. The most disappointing thing is putting your hard earned cash in a slab and time working on it, just to have it cup or break, destroying what you had envisioned for your piece. When you buy a kiln dried slab from a Lakewood Live Edge you won’t have this issue.
Kiln drying will also kill the little messes with what might be settling within the wood. Subterranean insects, termites, silverfish, scarabs, moths, among others, will tunnel into wood and remain there until your finished product makes it to it’s new indoor resting place and now in a climate controlled environment those little insects come out. They can even tunnel back through your new slab burrow into your home! Kiln drying will kill all of the bugs in your wood slab so you will be sure to not have to deal with these unwanted pests!
At Lakewood Live Edge, we have a VacuPress Kiln, which dries wood 10x quicker than regular kilns.
Three: Surfacing Is A Major Pain. Get some assistance.
A few bigger mills offer surfacing, this can save you HOURS or even DAYS of sanding and planing. Lakewood Live Edge is set up with the warehouse work space and hardware to take care of surfacing your slabs.
At Lakewood Live Edge, we have a 64" Planer/Sander that can plane and sand slabs so you don’t have to. On the off chance that a great deal of surfacing is required we do have a 5'x15' CNC table where we can level pretty much anything.
Purchasing a slab can prove to be an investment. Purchasing a slab that is kiln dried, cut appropriately, planed and sanded you can rest assured that you end up with the piece you're imagining, and that you don't need to spend unnecessary time sanding all the saw marks away, or pay extra for kiln drying later. Lakewood Live Edge has the experience, and heavy equipment you're searching for when you're prepared to purchase your next live edge slab.