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Wood Gloat

2K views 23 replies 20 participants last post by  Leonard5 
Direct from Alaska

A friend of mine up in Alaska is a big fan of my woodworking and got very excited when he found this piece of wood.. he sent it to me and it arrived in the mail today! Imagine my surprise when I opened my front door and there was this giant box between it and the screen door! Yay!



It is about 15×25" on the long sides and 2" thick. It's also very lightweight - only 8 pounds.

My friend has no idea what kind of wood it is (he is a mechanic :) ) Any suggestions? It came from the island of Sitka, Alaska, and was definitely grown there.



Close-up of the grain



Close up of the edge

The edges on this are really spectacular.



Of course I took some artistic photos of it too.









The last one, is the other side - it's very rough sawn. It sure is pretty!

Okay my questions are:

-What kind of wood is this?
-What should I do with it?
-What are the best options for making the top flat, smooth and pretty?

I could honestly take photos of wood all day long.. especially rough and gnarly pieces like this. It's just so beautiful.
to my understanding, there are only a few REALLY plentiful trees in Alaska. The most plentiful in Sitka (if I remember from an old vacation) are Western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and red alder, and yellow cedar. here is a link to an alder page. the burliness has me thinking it's got a chance to be alder.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/alder.htm

fort flattening, i think a router sled of some trpe could help. after that, sandpaper is the best bet for endgrain. this could make nice mantel clock face.
 
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