The Woodshop Shed

Stabilizing defects in walnut slab

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


Hey all,

I'm about to start on a live edge walnut coffee table and am looking for recommendations on dealing with cracks/voids. The slab has three defect types:

1. Two bark (or walnut?) inclusions, about 1-1.5" diameter. They appear contained/stable. I'm not terribly worried about these.
2. A decent sized knot with a crack through the middle. The knot and crack go all the way through to the other side. This is the defect I'm most worried about, as I think it'll continue to move through the seasons.
3. Some hairline cracks along one edge of the slab, roughly 2-6" from the edge. I assume this was due to drying.

At least for #1 and #3, I planned to fill them with epoxy (thin for the hairline cracks to get deep penetration), both to stabilize and flatten with the surface. Perhaps with mica powder mixed in (not sure if I'll use black to hide it or turquoise to make it a feature).

For #2, I worry that epoxy would not be sufficient, and the cracks would either open back up or the knot would create a new crack since the existing one would be locked down. How would you approach this? Would butterflies plus epoxy fill be better? Just butterflies and leave a hole? Something else?

Thanks,
Tyler

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