Building a table with the centre board from a tree - Pith

[Treeeeee]

Hello,

If I'm going to use the centre slab from a tree to build a table.

Should I be cautious of the pith/heart? Should I not use the centre board and opt for one above of below?

Obviously the centre board would be the widest which is what I would be after, happy to resin any small cracks etc.

The species will be Walnut, if that makes a difference.

Many thanks for any help!

 

[Jacob]

Hello,

If I'm going to use the centre slab from a tree to build a table.

Should I be cautious of the pith/heart? Should I not use the centre board and opt for one above of below? .....

In principle yes.
In practice you don't know until you''ve had a look at it.

 

[custard]

A decent saw mill will always "box out" the pith so it never appears in any boards. Some of the more rural saw mills and timber yards, who are mainly cutting for fence posts and similar, occasionally leave the pith in. If I get the time tomorrow I'll dig out some boards from my wood shed that have the pith still in place, and you'll see how the distortion just ripples out from the pith.

Moral of the story, never include the pith in any furniture, it's almost always a load of trouble and will never really behave itself.

 

[Treeeeee]

Thanks Jacob!

Ah this sawmill has left the pith in the centre board and has said it has cracks in.

They have also said that the centre board is always the most stable, I'm assuming if this has the pith in then that is not true.

Thanks as always Gary.

 

[AndyT]

The wood either side of the pith will be stable, since the growth rings will be nearly at right angles to the surface. As the wood shrinks, it will probably stay flat, more so than boards above or below, which will tend to curl. Normal practice would be to rip saw your board into three parts, discarding the middle. As the two outer boards are a pair, they should still look good when reunited.

 

[Treeeeee]

Thanks ever so much Andy! Appreciate the help!