Live edge and the endgrain

The live edge of this board was a bit too "baroque" for my taste. So I had to remove a lot of material in order to shape it more to my liking. First I wanted to do this with the drawknife, but it was just too much material. I think in older times the local carpenter would have used an axe for such a job. But because I don't even have an axe I had to find another solution. A simple, crude but fast method of stock removal on the edge of a board is crosscuts and splitting the material in between with a big chisel. Then, with the amount of work in managable limits again, I shaped it with the drawknife.

And because I have never used a drawknife in earnest before in my life, the result needed a bit of smoothing with a spokeshave and a scraper. Overall this was a fun job. Freeshaping instead of carefull working to a line or so.

Last job on this board were the ends. Planing endgrain is never easy, especially not on such large boards. Added complexity was the length of the board, so I couldn't clamp it upright to the bench. Ceiling too low! Instead I clamped it slanted to the front of the bench, this seemed to be the most comfortable position. I used a wooden plane, because a heavy one is very tiring being used like that. A sharp, sharp, sharp blade made it all possible.

Well, that was slab nr 1. On to the next, as soon as my sore muscles had some rest.