live edge slab display

[Joey Grimes]

I'm trying to come up with a slab display and been thinking about a round vertical rack with the base mounted on a truck hub so it turns .The most difficult part about the slabs is displaying if you put them in a stack they don't sell well beacause no one can see them and stand them up vertical on wall they take up to much room. We're build a new lumber storage building so I'm brainstorming on how to maximize space .

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, sir, good luck with that. I've had the same problem myself. Best thing I could do was lean them against a (strong) wall, biggest in back, smaller ones in front. I hope to have that problem again soon.  ;)

[Den Socling]

Are they dry and sterile? I hate some of the crap that is being sold as live edge slabs. But I have to hand it to you guys in the slab business. It's back breaking work.

[longtime lurker]

Give each slab a number, take pictures of each side, record dimensions... then stack them normally.

That way a potential buyer only has to look at pictures to come up with a shortlist of what's interesting to themselves. I tend to store "oddball inventory" pics to one drive, that way I can email a link and get the right slabs pulled for inspection before a buyer walks in the door.

(Link to off site photos removed by Admin)

(Couldn't get much uglier pictures of an ordinary log  to demonstrate with, but you get the method anyway!!)

[YellowHammer]

I'm trying to come up with a slab display and been thinking about a round vertical rack with the base mounted on a truck hub so it turns .The most difficult part about the slabs is displaying if you put them in a stack they don't sell well beacause no one can see them and stand them up vertical on wall they take up to much room. We're build a new lumber storage building so I'm brainstorming on how to maximize space .

I have the same problem...and also have to look at the potential danger to customers when they are sorting through the slabs.  I'm thinking of building a long vertical wall rack where the slabs are placed like books in a bookshelf, edge facing the customer, tilted back about 10 degrees, separated by wooden pegs spaced about 3 - 6 inches apart.  The customer can then see both sides of the slab, and pull the one they want.  I'm also thinking of looping a rope or light chain across the front of the display to keep any slabs from tilting out and falling on a customer, much the same way gas cylinders are held against the wall or in a welding cart with a safety chain. 

[Okrafarmer]

Yellow Hammer, I believe you're onto something. Good idea. I always was worried about slabs or boards falling on people too. It never happened when I was set up that way, but your idea sounds real good.

[red]

Ever see a Canoe Trailer ?  I always thought it would be a good idea to have a rack or a trailer near the sawmill for sorting .

[Joey Grimes]

 

  

 

[YellowHammer]

Nice slabs, and that's how I've been selling them.  Customers dig through them, restack them, lean them against other stacks, mess them up, tilt them over,  and since some are 8 feet tall and very heavy, almost drop or tilt the them on themselves or other customers.  I haven't had any incidents yet, but I'm looking for a different, safer, way.  Got to remember, we may have 5 or 10 customers shopping and looking at the same time, so it's hard to keep my eye on everyone at the same time, and I shouldn't have to, if I had a safer, more convenient way to display and view the slabs. 

[Okrafarmer]

Got to remember, we may have 5 or 10 customers shopping and looking at the same time,

Wow, the most I ever had was about three different customers pawing through my wood at once! When do you find time to cut more slabs?  ???

[YellowHammer]

Got to remember, we may have 5 or 10 customers shopping and looking at the same time,

Wow, the most I ever had was about three different customers pawing through my wood at once! When do you find time to cut more slabs?  ???

I don't sit down much  ;D.
Here's a picture I snapped a while ago of a typical Saturday with people buying wood and having a good time, at our place, at Hobby Hardwood Alabama. 

[Okrafarmer]

I want to be like you when I grow up!

[5quarter]

YH...sure you don't have a Walmart there behind the barn?  ;) :D

[Joey Grimes]

I need to work a lot on organization I have to do a lot of shuffling of stacks to find what customers are looking for  hopefully the new building will remedy that.

[DR Buck]

Here is a photo of what I made to use at shows.    It's a little hard to see the detail but it is two  8" x 8"  6 foot Poplar cants with holes drilled through them.    They are laid on the floor about 4 or 5 feet apart.   I cut and painted 3/4" rebar to go into the holes that are about 4 inches apart and I stand the slabs up in between the rebar.   The customer can see both sides of each slab.     I have longer rebar to use with the wider slabs.   If I remember correctly, the display holds 10 or 12 slabs at once.






FYI --  The display stands in front of the slabs are for the other "regular" boards and are made from plywood and Poplar.  They are made to come apart for transport and allow me to display boards safely for customers to look through without lifting them out until they are ready to buy.

[xlogger]

I recently clean out two 40 ft long metal building I have and put small rock on both floors. I filled all four walls with my slabs mostly cedar and maple. I then run my boards down the middle on pallets so you have room on both sides to walk and see the slabs and boards.


 

[Cazzhrdwd]

That is a nice set up Xlogger. I wonder though if a bit of saw dust covering the stone might look better? It would at least keep the ends clean. Might get a bit moldy if left for awhile though.

[caveman]

DanG Robert, you and Martha have folks coming out of the woodwork. 
5quarter, those can't be Walmart shoppers frequenting Yellowhammer's establishment-none of them are wearing pajamas or sagging jeans.   

[xlogger]

That is a nice set up Xlogger. I wonder though if a bit of saw dust covering the stone might look better? It would at least keep the ends clean. Might get a bit moldy if left for awhile though.

I keep them off gravel most of the time, this pic was taken right after I started filling up the area and had enough for one day. If you see the long boards on gravel, I built a long pallet type setup that runs the length of the wall that they rest on.

[DR Buck]

So my questions is are you guys selling green, air dried or, kiln dried slabs?    I would think stored over a gravel floor or in non-conditioned spaces at best they are air dried.     I have had no luck in selling much of anything not kiln dried except fence boards.   I have resorted to kiln drying almost everything now to get the best prices.

[WDH]

Kiln dried. 

[Den Socling]

I've read an article or two about people selling air dried slabs that are spreading bugs and diseases like Thousand Cankers. Personally, I think it should be highly frowned upon if not down right illegal. Our forest have enough problems already.

[YellowHammer]

Kiln dried and sterilized.

[bkaimwood]

Kiln dried and sterilized.

X2....the only way to fly!
Xlogger...great display! But the concern is selling slabs in a timely manner...if you don't, those KD slabs will take on moisture in a non controlled environment, and bow due to their own weight, especially with other slabs against them. They are encouraged to do so when MC changes. I have used a similar system, but in a somewhat controlled environment...and only one slab per space, to minimize these risks. Cuts down on space, bid time, but warped or twisted slabs speak for themselves. It's a real challenge, I'm fighting it with ya!!!

[Okrafarmer]

Wow-- I sold a lot of green and air-dried lumber.

[xlogger]

Kiln dried and sterilized.

X2....the only way to fly!
Xlogger...great display! But the concern is selling slabs in a timely manner...if you don't, those KD slabs will take on moisture in a non controlled environment, and bow due to their own weight, especially with other slabs against them. They are encouraged to do so when MC changes. I have used a similar system, but in a somewhat controlled environment...and only one slab per space, to minimize these risks. Cuts down on space, bid time, but warped or twisted slabs speak for themselves. It's a real challenge, I'm fighting it with ya!!!

The pic is the day I was moving them around, most of the double stack ones where waiting on me to finish the other side of the shed. But at times I do double stack them when I have several that just comes out of kiln. I do not kiln dry the cedar slabs. When I double stack them I try to put a smaller one in front. As far as a controlled environment I not planning on anything like that just to costly and at my age I'm not building anymore building.

[Den Socling]

Just for the heck of it, yesterday I contacted 5 companies that cut slabs. These were the first 5 of a Google search. Two said their slabs were kiln dried. One said their slabs were kiln dried to 15% and that they got hot enough to kill bugs but they couldn't guarantee that the slabs weren't reinfected! Two had no reply.

[Peter Drouin]

At the Fair I guy had some set up, All KD



  

  

  

  

  

 
The rack for the slabs looks good. ;D

I did not like the way they keeped the thing flat.


 
Maybe a better way, I don't know. I do think the wood is over price.

[WDH]

Me too given that most of what I see is pine, Pine Man. 

[thecfarm]

That is about all we have here,Pecan Man.  ;D
Most of my hardwood don't get no more than 2 feet across. And by that I mean out of all my hardwood only a few will get that big. The red oak might get some size,but I have to wait a couple hundred years.  :D  I can grow white pine here easy,three feet across in about 70-80 years.  :D
There is a post about beech. I had some big ones with them. But by the time you got rid of the hollow heart,I am down to a tree that is no more than a foot and half across. And there again only a few too. Rock maple will get some size to them,but I have very few on my land.

[thecfarm]

Gotta watch them people from away.  ;D  The ones from NH are the bad ones.  :D  They put homegrown on it and think it has some special powers to it.  :D They come to Maine and sell thier wares.  ;D

[Den Socling]

The design of that rack is good but I would have built it out of 1.5" square steel tube. It looks like it's ready to fall.

[AlaskaLes]

Den, I was thinking the same thing...it looks like it was built to store 1" boards...not 3" slabs.

[Okrafarmer]

Gotta watch them people from away.  ;D  The ones from NH are the bad ones.  :D  They put homegrown on it and think it has some special powers to it.  :D They come to Maine and sell thier wares.  ;D

         
Flatlanders!!!!!!!!!

[Peter Drouin]

This was different.


  

 
Don't drop your beer on the table. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Okrafarmer]

Well if they sell that stuff right next to the fur coat store, the people who drop $6,000 and up for a fur coat will also buy those things too, and feel like they got a great deal. Doesn't figure. . . .

[Den Socling]

I have a friend who does live edge furniture. http://woodrichpa.com/ He  has a whole room of stumps that they debark and sand. A lot of hand sanding at that company. The stumps make some fantastic table bases.

[Okrafarmer]

I have a friend who does live edge furniture. http://woodrichpa.com/ He  has a whole room of stumps that they debark and sand. A lot of hand sanding at that company. The stumps make some fantastic table bases.

Yes, they are beautiful, Den, it's just that some of the prices this guy in the pictures was evidently asking made my eyebrows shoot up. However, if the market bears his prices, I'm in the wrong business.  ;D

[Den Socling]

I don't see how pine slabs could be worth what he's asking. I'm sitting at an oak bar I made about 33 years ago. Yesterday, a couple friends were here watching football and we got to talking about how many years we have set around this bar. That wouldn't happen with a piece of pine. The public is very ignorant.

[Okrafarmer]

I don't see how pine slabs could be worth what he's asking. I'm sitting at an oak bar I made about 33 years ago. Yesterday, a couple friends were here watching football and we got to talking about how many years we have set around this bar. That wouldn't happen with a piece of pine. The public is very ignorant.

I agree, although it is true that there is little or no oak to mill in any part of Alaska. Birch is their standard hardwood up there. . . .

[Kbeitz]

I have a friend who does live edge furniture. http://woodrichpa.com/ He  has a whole room of stumps that they debark and sand. A lot of hand sanding at that company. The stumps make some fantastic table bases.

I use flap wheels. Makes the sanding easy.

[Den Socling]

He may also. Sounds like a good idea with stumps. I've seen only tops being sanded. There they want to keep all of the original contours so they sand by hand.

[Okrafarmer]

When I was in China I saw some really beautiful stump tables. I think they harvested stumps that grew either on a rock surface, or hard clay. All the roots spread out flat as a result, as the tree grew. Cut the stump off, intricately excavate all the little tiny rootlets, carefully remove the stump, and you have a lace-like table. They took off the little itty bitty hairy roots, but left ones down to at least half an inch diameter, maybe smaller. They painstakingly debarked the whole thing. I think $200 could have bought it, if you could have gotten it home. . . . . The maker probably spent months on it.