live edge trestle table part 2

after envisioning how amazing the finished product would be, and going through any other possibilities that i may want to entertain with 4 massive pieces of beautiful wood it was time to get to work. the grinder was my first order of business.

i wanted to grind down all of the very high spots and open cracks that would give the hand planar too much difficulty.

once the high spots were ground down i took a straight piece of wood to assure the planar would be able to do what it does.

i used the electric hand planar, dad used his vintage planar. 

we cut the side that would be joined with a circular saw

 and inspected it intensely, no posing for the camera here... this is all real life!

and then we jointed the side that we cut. this heavy piece was a pain to joint, but having that precision edge is critical. the table top will be glued together at this seam, so the faces that are glued must be perfectly matched or the top will not be strong enough at the seam.

 this is how the table top pieces will come together.

projects like this take lots of planning, thinking, and problem solving. it's not uncommon for us to spend plenty of time just sitting around thinking, which is one of my favorite parts of working with wood.

link to part 3