Sitting on the [live] edge

There's something very twisted about this board. Very twisted. And, I don't like it.

 

A quick look at the discrepancy with how
much was taken off shows just how
badly the slab was twisted.

Ever since my coffee table project, I yearned to make a live edge walnut trestle table. Given my obvious fondness for Nakashima's work, I wanted to emulate his trestle table design. I made the trip to a small sawmill operation close by and asked the owner if he had any live edge walnut. He lead me to a shed and showed me what he had. Being a smaller operation, there was not a lot to choose from, but two bookmatched slabs looked good to me. This being the second time I'd ever bought walnut, and me possibly being a little giddy at the thought of a new project, my impatience may have gotten the best of me. I bought the two slabs and headed home. Shortly after getting home, upon further examination, I noticed that both slabs were severely twisted. This is something any woodworker should have noticed right off the bat when buying lumber. I, on the other hand, did not. I was pretty disappointed in my haste and wondered what the heck I was going to do. After some quick research I found that you could flatten twisted stock, the only downside being you'd lose thickness and most likely have to cut off some length if the stock was too twisted and not very thick. So I found a method for flattening stock by using a router flattening jig. I fashioned a pretty rudimentary jig from angle steel, which I attached to some 2x4 stock. The jig would run along rails fastened to a large panel of plywood. I'd found more complex jigs but for my purposes I decided to go quick and easy with it. After shimming the slab until it was level, I used a fairly large router bit and simply worked my way down the stock, taking off little by little, until one side was flat. Then I flipped the slab and repeated it.

The Nakashima bench at the
Michener Museum is right out
in the open to view (or sit on).

I still had a good amount of thickness left, but I did have to cut off some from the end that had gotten too thin for my liking. It was then I decided that these slabs were now probably smaller than I wanted my table to be.
One thing I really liked was that as I flattened the stock, I noticed it was some great grain going on. I'd seen Nakashima's benches and really liked them as well, so I decided a bench would make a nice companion for this yet-to-be-made trestle table. Plus, I was quickly learning you can come up with any number of projects that "need" to be done, and thus, excuses to buy more wood (I was becoming an addict!).

Flattening the slab made a
huge difference,and I loved how
closely it's shape was to that
of the Nakashima bench I'd seen.

So back to the researching I went; examining photos of Nakashima benches, and getting an in-person examination of a few at the Nakashima property and the Michener Museum in nearby Doylestown, PA. I like being a little exacting with my work, so things like height of the bench in comparison to Nakashima's and dimensions of the leg etc. mattered to me. I came up with some specs and got down to it; removing the bark from the edges with a draw knife (another tool given to me by my father-in-law), and then cleaning them up. To take care of the checks that had formed on either of the slab, I cut some rosewood butterfly keys on the bandsaw; a larger one for each end, and a small one to add a little further in from one end. I took this opportunity to cut some extra butterfly keys for future use too.
I'd decided I wanted to do a bench with wide, slab legs on each end, for the sake of building something that would probably hold up longer than if I'd used turned legs on one or both sides. So next I had to map out my mortise and tenons, cut those, and then shape the bottom profile of the slab leg. I used my router to make the mortises and used the bandsaw, router table and handsaw to cut the tenons. After a nice test fit (a perfect 90 degree angle!) I did the glue-up. Nakashima often used a block hidden on the inside of his slab legs to add strength to the joint, so I thought it would be a good idea to do the same. I quickly squared up an extra piece of walnut and got some dowels. I decided two dowels going into the leg, and two going into the bottom of the bench would be more than sufficient. The leg dowels would be blind mortise and tenons, and the ones going into the bench would be through tenons.
I'm almost done with this project, unfortunately it's taken a backseat to everything else I have going on. I have to flatten one more slab leg, cut the mortises and tenons for that and join it. Then it's on to sanding and finishing... I hope to get back to this project within the next month or so! You can view and purchase furniture I've made, like this, here https://www.etsy.com/listing/204007357/live-edge-walnut-side-table-coffee-table?ref=shop_home_active_1.

Since this project I've stopped tracing my keys with a pencil and instead have used an exacto knife.
I have found this method makes it a lot easier to get a nice, snug fit.

I love the subtle curve Nakashima used at the base of his bench. It's visually appealing and also serves a purpose:
to make the bench sit on all fours, even on an uneven floor.

There's something really cool about cutting tenons, especially finishing them off with a hand saw.

During glue-up of the leg I had a small mishap and accidentally chipped the edge of the leg in a small area.
So, I had to glue and clamp it back on.

A perfect 90! Nice...

Nakashima did not use through tenons on the dowels in his braces. I decided to go ahead with it because I thought
it looked cool and also would provide even more strength and support to the joint.

The best surprise, and the thing I am probably most excited about with this project, is the amazing grain all over this walnut.
There is "fire" throughout the grain as well as some crazy rippling and feathers going on. Applying the finish to this bench
is going to be a labor of love and a fun time.

More great grain. Cheap, twisted walnut ended up with a nice secret within.