Being lovers of beautiful wood at Bailey Wood Products, we are always looking for exceptional trees that can be taken and turned into something as beautiful as they were when they were growing. Walnut is one of those species that we have a special affection for. In the Spring of 2016 we came across two exceptional Walnut logs. We purchased the logs and sawed them into live edge planks to be used for making tables and furniture.
The two logs yielded some beautiful, wide-figured slabs that we milled at 2 ½” and 3” thickness. Some of the material at the crotch was up to 54”. The longest log was 17’ with a nice wide crotch on the end. Finding Walnut that has that length is uncommon as most trees tend to branch lower leaving a shorter trunk section. These two logs were exceptional by all standards.
The process from log to kiln dried lumber for thick slabs like these is a long one. After sawing, these were stacked for air drying with our forklift. The mass of each slab was more than two men could reasonably handle. Several months of air drying are then followed by an additional 100 days in our dry kiln. The moisture content is reduced at a rate of roughly ½ a percent of moisture content per day. This is done to prevent checking and allow the pieces to dry at a steady rate to keep them flat.
The first of the slabs for the Walnut were used to create the 48” wide book matched conference table top. The finished length of the table is 14’. The two crotch sections of the table were used for the uprights for the table. The entire piece of furniture was created from the two center book matched slabs from the 17’ long Walnut log. The Lazarus Wood Project of Emmaus, PA, created the table, which was purchased from Jaindl Farms in Orefield , PA for their new corporate office conference room.
If you have interest in creating one of a kind furniture from live edge material, we have many more of these wide slabs available for purchase. We have a selection of Walnut, Sycamore, Maple, Hackberry, and White Pine available for sale. For information on available inventory of widths and lengths, please give us a call.
This beautiful walnut is drying in the kiln, but will be ready for purchase in a couple of months. We currently have some other pieces of live edge walnut in our store. Stop by or call our office to inquire about our stock.
