For those who have been asking, here’s an update on my big Mesquite Table. I now have the 8 slabs glued together and most of the epoxy filling done. This first picture shows one of the boards while I was working the face flat. Several of the boards had a slight twist, and in order to get them flat I used “Winding Sticks”—in this case, two matching straightedges. I set them on opposite ends of the board and sight across the top edges to see if they are parallel. The winding sticks magnify any twist, making it easy to flatten. Then I checked the long direction with a straight edge before running them through my planer. I could only run about 1 board through before stopping to sharpen the blades on the planer. Epoxy is good but hard and quite abrasive to knives. I have 8 gallons of epoxy poured in at this point.
In order to flip the top over, I procured a Gantry crane and set it up in the shop. The ratchet straps allow for fine adjustments, and the chain hoist lifts the whole section quite nicely. (I don’t have much extra room on top of the crane.) I have started sanding the main top sections getting ready for the inlay.
This is an end view of the whole table. The yellow tape in the middle is where the inlay will go. It will be turquoise stone, inset in the shape of a saguaro cactus (the company’s logo).
Mark, you are an artist.
Beautiful work Mark