Live Edge
What Is Live Edge Wood?
Live Edge Wood is material that is sawn from the tree with the outer bark edge of the piece remaining attached to the board or slab that is sawn. The natural character of the tree is exposed showing all irregularities in grain, internal checks, and splits that developed as the tree grew throughout its life. It in a sense reveals the life of the tree showing changes in growth from season to season, as well as stresses that the tree overcame in its lifetime. By sawing the logs into lumber this way, as opposed to removing the bark edges in processing, the history is fully displayed to reveal the natural beauty within the heart of the tree.
We have a large selection of live edge lumber in stock. Comprised of a wide variety of species and sizes, we have a solution for every project. Visit our showroom today or contact us to see if we have the stock you need ready to go.
Ready To Build?
Check out our selection of live edge wood in our online shop. Don’t see exactly what you’re looking for? Don’t worry. We have more options than we could ever load on our website. Let us know what you need and we will find a solution that fits.
Live Edge At Bailey Wood Products
Common Uses For Live Edge Lumber
Tables: Live Edge Wood has become increasingly popular for dining and conference tables. Each tabletop is unique to that section of the tree that it was sawn from. The beauty of the grain and internal characteristics of the wood are on display in a live edge top making each its own unique statement. Figured grain, knots, splits, and cracks that developed in the drying process, and coloration of the grain are all on full display revealing a story about the life of each individual tree.
A practice called “Book Matching” can be done in creating tabletops. Two adjoining slabs from the same log are positioned side by side when making the top, much like folding a book open. The resulting grain, colorations, and figure of the wood will be a mirror image from one side to the other where the glue line is created, making for a very striking appearance to the finished piece.
Counter Tops / Island Tops: Solid Wood Countertops are popular in the modern kitchen. Wood is a safer cutting and working surface than plastic cutting boards, with respect to minimizing bacterial growth. Whether you are including a small preparation area or an entire countertop area of wood in your kitchen, we can create that for you. The standard countertop depth is 25”. We can produce kitchen and island worktops in any species of wood we stock. We do recommend using woods that are more durable like Maple, Mahogany, Walnut, or Cherry. Closed-grained woods are the best choice, and open-grained woods like Oak aren’t as functional and are recommended not to be used. If you would want a live edge on the outer edge of the countertop, we can offer that option to you as well. Discussing your layout with our staff will help us direct you to the best wood and design for your project. Solid wood countertops when installed as a work/cutting space need to be protected with a mineral oil/beeswax coating. This keeps the wood from drying out with repeated use, and also will aid in the clean-up after you are done working on it. Other tops that aren’t workspaces can be finished with a durable conversion varnish finish that will seal up the wood and protect it for many years of use. Finishing can be done by the customer or quoted additionally. If you have further questions on finishing of the tops, please contact us directly to answer your questions.
Bar Tops: There are many options that we can offer for bar tops. We can provide you with a solid one-piece slab based on availability to fit your dimensions, or we can glue up a top to fit your dimensions. For a quote please contact us directly with your dimensions, or a drawing of your layout, so we can provide you with a quote. The bar tops are all created custom to your order and design. We would like to get an understanding of your vision, so we can help create what you are looking for. Lead time on custom work will vary, and we will advise you of our schedule at that time.
River Tables: We are a supplier of kiln-dried slabs for River Tables, but at this time we aren’t creating them as part of our product line. On large live edge slabs that require some epoxy work to fill knots and cracks, we will offer that service. When it comes to building molds for larger epoxy pours, we leave that up to the customer.