It’s a good thing I wasn’t in the shop the day a neighbor brought in some live oak slabs to have made into a dining table.
The wood was from a tree on their place lost in the flood of 2015. The slabs had been sawn, air dried, placed in a kiln for further drying, and planed. It had suffered severe cracking and was not yet dry enough to use. It looked like firewood to me.
![IMG 6098 copy](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219101/IMG_6098-copy.webp)
But Austin was in the shop. He designed a table and persisted until it was realized.
He first rough cut the parts: trestle ends, connecting rail, and the top. Let them acclimate a few weeks and then put them in our kiln. Getting all the water out revealed all the demons: more cracks, warp, cup, twist, and collapse.
The crotch cuts did suggest trestle ends. Epoxy, lots of epoxy and time, did fill the cracks. Finesse, ripping, and re-gluing got the top flat.
![IMG 6218 copy](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219129/IMG_6218-copy.webp)
![IMG 6217 copy](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219128/IMG_6217-copy.webp)
Live oak is heavy. This made the process laborious and made a table that took four, with full effort, to load and deliver.
![IMG 7805 2](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219183/IMG_7805-2.webp)
![Live oak text](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219164/live-oak-text.webp)
Success:
“We are extremely pleased with the table. It is so much more than we ever imagined.”
P.
|Wimberley, Texas
![Live oak live edge two](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219252/live-oak-live-edge-two.webp)
![Live oak live edge one](https://garyweeks.com/assets/uploads/images/_fullWidth/219092/live-oak-live-edge-one.webp)
"Better than I imagined." Gary Weeks