Your slabs are served! Come in knowing the basics and you'll be a step ahead.
You walk into the Slab Room at BFA, and it's wild in there. Giant specimens soar to the ceiling and stacks of cuts in every shape and color line the walls. It's exciting... what now?
Fortunately, we've been at this for a while, and there are no secrets, just step-by-step processes designed to narrow the focus and arrive at the most useful, most beautiful piece possible.
First: Choosing a Slab Specimen
Talk to a BFA expert about how your preferences line up: size, species/color, contour irregularity, grain pattern and more.
Browse through what's in stock. Your tabletop or headboard may be there by serendipity, or it may not.
If the winner isn't on hand, we'll send you 3-5 available offsite slab options for your consideration. Come back once it arrives to meet it!
Hooray! We've chosen a slab. Now what are you going to do about it?
Next: Your Options
Choose which side of the slab becomes the surface. Sometimes, the slab makes it obvious.
Choose which section of the slab will be used. Again, sometimes, this is obvious. Sometimes it's not! The unused portion(s) of the slab can be repurposed.
Confirm whether you'd like clear resin epoxy (the standard) or something different in naturally occurring imperfections.
Last: Our Practice
Bark Removal: We use a Japanese draw knife to remove external layers of bark material, being careful never to touch the wood beneath.
Flattening: Slabs in the Slab Room are surfaced, so they're a step ahead of freshly milled lumber. They still need to be flattened, though - so we're ready for the marble champion when they come in for their table.
Paralleling: With a track saw, we carefully position the lengthwise perimeter of the top so the ends are parallel and the spine of the table corresponds to the direction of growth. There's no going back now!
Resin Fill: Trees come with all kinds of imperfections (that's what makes them perfect). We blend and pour cellulose-based epoxy resin in every nook and cranny, from bark inclusions to insect trails, often using syringes and toothpicks. Wait. Let the resin harden (2-10+ days). Go back and see where the resin sunk below the surface. Pour again. Wait again. Pour again. Again.
Sanding + Finishing to Infinity: Hands falling asleep means keep going. Proper sanding is truly an art and science, and in this shop oil finishing is competitive.
