Table and bar tops

[Mad Professor]

Am thinking about milling a few of these to sell. Have plenty of hard maple, cherry, white pine and ash available.

Would be 8/4-12/4" thick, mill will handle 15'.

Anybody do this and if so what have you asked for the slabs?

Do you wait for an order or have a selection in stock?

 

[jrhannum]

I have successfully milled California Red Oak, Bigleaf Maple and Hind’s Walnut (Claro), mostly at 10/4 and air-dried under tin roofing for 2-3 years; then router-planed (if wider than 12”) or thickness-planed (if less than 13” wide) to produce flat stock at 8/4-or better. Then went after commissions to make mantles, memorial benches, gunstock blanks and/or picnic benches – requiring high-quality finish sanding and spar varnish, pour-on resin or oil-based stain over the raw wood (except for gunstock blanks-left raw). I work cheap and sell at around $100 per board foot (more for knot-free, less for sapwood edges). This is not a money-making hobby, I just love the outcomes from a start on a downed log somewhere close to my pickup; use a Huski 575 and a home-made 30-inch “alaska” mill.

 

[grizz55chev]

Been getting good money for picnic benches, 600$ plus for cedar slab with live edges, bark peeled off. 400$ for a Doug for plank table supplied with the wood from the customer. There's 100$ in carriage bolts, nuts and washers, finish can also cost 50 to 100$.