Table Made with Ancient Japanese Technique

So during the years of making YouTube videos, I've had the opportunity to work with some beautiful slabs, but none more stunning than this giant Mappaburro cookie that I got from my friends over at Hamilton Leigh Supply. I was so excited to get the slab into my shop and start building a new table that I immediately removed it from the crate when it arrived in my driveway. And this happened. Hello, darkness, my old friend. The slab cracked in half completely. Initially, I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I went ahead and loaded the pieces into my truck and got them over to the shop on the drive over to the shop. One of the halves broken half again. So now I've got a slab in three pieces, and I wasn't sure how I was going to make this piece work. Should I just glue it back together? But then you would see the seams from the glue up. And now I'm just doing some initial cleanup on the pieces as I try to figure it all out. And I want to quickly explain what the difference between a normal slab and a cookie slab is. Normally, when a tree is cut down, it's cut on a sawmill lengthwise to create lumber boards or in this case, a live edge slab. And depending on the orientation of the log when it was cut, the grain pattern in the slab can vary. But a cookie slab is cut on a sawmill. But from the cross section of the log, revealing typically a circular piece of lumber, hence the name cookie slab. This is also the cut of the tree. We're able to see and count all the tree rings. The problem with cookie slabs is they're far more susceptible to cracking when drying because you're working with a cross section of the tree and the center or the pith of the tree is where a majority of that moisture content is. So the pith dries slower than the outer rings of the tree. And this disparity in drying and resulting shrinkage of the wood causes cookies to crack. So I had an idea to highlight these imperfections in the slab and make that the focus of this piece. And I recall the technique that I've seen used to repair a broken pottery called Kintsugi and apologies if I'm pronouncing that wrong. Kintsugi, which stands for golden repair, is a roughly 600 year old Japanese technique of repairing broken pottery with lacquer that's mixed with gold dust. And then those repaired pieces are often more beautiful than the original, like this or this one or this. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to Kintsugi this slab back together in the hopes the finished product is more beautiful than if it had never broke. There was this other section where the slab was likely to break again. So I helped it along. And now I've got four chunks of this cookie slab. As I figure out my layout, I want to talk about the species of wood, Mapa Burl. And contrary to what Jeff believes, it doesn't come from Mapa Valley, California. Mapa is very similar to cottonwood, and both are in the poplar family. Mapa is European poplar, and the Burl wood is highly sought after. And previously, I'd only seen Mapa Burl in other YouTube videos and on Instagram, but I had never seen a piece here in Oklahoma. But I saw that Hamilton Lee Supply had some Mapa Burl slabs, and I reached out to get one. Now, this slab was in Houston, but originally it came from Hamilton Lee's other lumber yard up in Washington. And to my surprise, I learned that Mapa actually grows here in the US and in the Pacific Northwest. They use it exactly how cottonwood is used here in Oklahoma and Texas. And that's as a windbreak along fence lines because it grows so fast and gets so big. And so like cottonwood, Mapa is on the soft end of a hardwood. And for this reason, I'm going to do an epoxy flood coat finish on this table. Now, this slab is so big that I can't cut it on my five foot wide CNC. So instead, I had to make this quick circle jig for my router, and I'm going to cut this out exactly like the caveman used to cut their slabs by hand. This slab is three inches thick and the router bit can't reach all the way through. And none of my jigsaw blades were long enough. So I had to order this 10 inch long jigsaw blade just to be able to cut the rest of the way through the slab. Let's take a minute and talk about the design. Like I said, I'm going to kintsugi this slab back together. And I was debating whether or not to stain the slab, which is a huge woodworking sin. Jeff, what do you think? Brother Jeff, the third commandment in the Book of Diresta is thou shall not lay stain upon thy live edge wood. Don't listen to him, man. All the cool kids are staining their slabs black. What does he know? Hast thou forsaken Nick Offerman? What would Norm do? Stain a black man black as night. Get out of here, angel dude. My child. I say stain it black. So black it is. My plan is to put the pieces back together in the correct orientation, but leave about a half inch gap along those lines where the slab broke. I'll fill these and any other voids with black epoxy and then come back with gold leaf to give it that final kintsugi look. I figured I could just pour the epoxy until it's about an eighth inch below the top of the slab, which is going to give me a natural template for inlaying the gold leaf into those cracks. So I built a form out of melamine and covered it with this red stucco tape. And I'm using this plastic garden edging that I got at Home Depot as the edges of my form, which is a tip that I got from my buddy Cam over at Blacktail Studio. But what does he know? And to ensure the epoxy is going to sit just below the surface of the slab, I need to use my biggest and flattest work table in the shop, which is the bed of my CNC. And that would be disastrous if the epoxy leaked all over the place. So here I'm adding some extra insurance to that silicone caulk by adding a layer of this Flex Seal paste to all the seams. I've seen epoxy in the edge of a slab delaminate before, and to help add extra strength to the bond between the wood and the epoxy, I'm drilling in some half inch holes for the epoxy to flow into and fuse with the slab. Also, these slabs aren't light, but I am worried about them floating up as I pour the epoxy. So that first layer of epoxy is only about a quarter inch deep of TotalBoat Thick Set Epoxy, and that's meant to seal the form and hold the slabs in place before I start pouring the deeper pours. And here, if I experience any leaks, I can address those. While there isn't a large amount of epoxy in the form, I came up with a new song. It's called I Love Stirring Epoxy, and it goes a little something like this. I love stirring epoxy. I could stir epoxy all day. And then you just repeat that over and over and over until you're done stirring epoxy. You know what I need to do? I need to get in there to Epidemic Sound, which is where I get all my music. And I need to find some like country songs and then kind of learn them and then create lyrics for those. That's what the Beatles did. Cam created all that controversy by saying the Beatles suck. I like the Beatles. I don't love them, but I like the Beatles. But I'll tell you who super sucks. I'm sorry, but if you disagree with me, you're wrong. Bruce Springsteen, the boss, is terrible. His music is terrible. He sounds. Born in the USA. Yeah, yeah. OK, cool. I wasn't OK. I was born in Belgium. All right. Maybe that's why I have a problem with. He sounds and appears to be constipated. On every song that he sings. I love mixing epoxy. It's kind of like Bruce Springsteen. You can go straight to hell. This is going to be the last layer that I pour before I take it out of the mold and flatten everything. And then I'll put it back in the mold once everything's nice and flat and pour the the last. I don't know, probably one or two more pours. I love pouring epoxy. I could pour epoxy out there real quick. I'm in the process of putting together an e-course and I need your help. I've got a survey link down below. That's only going to take you about two to three minutes to complete. This is really going to help me out and make sure I'm creating the best course possible for my viewers. Even if you took that last survey, I'd ask that you take this one as well. Again, this one is super quick. And after you take the survey, just drop a comment down below saying that you took the survey and I'll pick one lucky winner to receive a new Johnny Builds T-shirt. Again, Mappa Burl is a softwood. So that two and a half inch flattening bit that I used left a pretty rough finish. So I need to start sanding at 80 grit. And here I like making pencil marks so I know where I've sanded and where I need to sand. And using this LED light panel helps me to identify any scratches that I need to sand down before moving on to the next grit. Another thing I need to address is all the little voids and knot holes on the slab. And since it's a burl slab, there are roughly a million little voids that I have to fill. So I busted out this knot filler, which is basically a glue gun on steroids. And it uses these polymer glue sticks to squeeze down into those voids. There's this aluminum heat sink and that quickly solidifies the polymer. And then you use this little hand plane to remove the excess. And this is when my daughter, Chloe, decided to stop by the shop and she brought olive and some Starbucks. You want to try some of these? So this is essentially like a giant hot glue gun for filling knots. And it's got this like polymer. And you just kind of squeeze it in the hole like that. And then this is an aluminum heat sink. You just push it on there. Be careful because that end is real hot. Perfection. And then here, I'll do this part. Then you take this guy, you scrape it right off. And then I come back with the sander and clean it up. So like all of these are already done. Thanks for letting me be in your video. Anytime. The audience hates it when you're in the video. So I just want to take a second to thank all of you for your support. I really couldn't do this without you. Hitting that subscribe button and watching my new videos is the number one way to support what I do. So if you enjoy my videos and my dumb dad jokes and agree that Bruce Springsteen is highly overrated, please hit that subscribe button and turn on all notifications. I'm using this water-based black dye called Trans Tint to stain the slab. And you just mix that with some water until you get your desired color and then rub it into your wood with a rag. Rub that in good. I don't want to completely hide all that beautiful burl grain. And if I was to do epoxy over the stain, it would get even darker. So I'm sanding it back to a lighter, almost gray color. That's going to allow those tree rings and all the burl figure to pop through. Next, I'm using some Total Boat Penetrating Epoxy, and this is going to do a couple of things. One, it's going to add strength to the wood, which, like I mentioned, map burls on the softer side of hardwoods. And two, it's going to seal the surface of the slab. So when I do my flood coats of tabletop epoxy, I won't have any bubbles from the air that's trapped in the wood that are going to ruin those flood coats. Something similar happened when I tried to make the Shoshugiban outdoor coffee table, and that thing was a complete disaster. It's right at that time here in Oklahoma where the weather swings wildly between hot, sunny days and freezing cold weather. This gives me flashbacks to a couple of years ago where we got hit with a big ice storm and I lost power for 11 days. But thanks to the sponsor of this video, GrowWatt, I'm prepared for the crazy Oklahoma weather with the GrowWatt Infinity 1500 portable power station. With industry leading charge times of zero to 80 in one hour and zero to 100 fully charged in two hours, the GrowWatt Infinity 1500 is not only great as backup power at home, but it's great for camping, working on a remote job site or just anywhere where you need portable power. The GrowWatt Infinity 1500 has 12 total power outlets, including four AC outlets, USB-A, USB-C and wireless charging for your devices on top. With a max output of 2000 watts, the GrowWatt 1500 can power demanding tools. And with the surge capacity of over 2000 watts, the GrowWatt 1500 can power things like an AC unit or a shop vac that require that surge power. The MyGrow app allows you to connect to your unit via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to monitor the unit and schedule functionalities even when you're away from the unit. And if you're looking to go completely off grid, the GrowWatt Infinity 1500 supports solar charging. And to check it out for yourself, click that link below or go to GrowWattPortable.com Thanks to GrowWatt. And now back to the build. I expected these last few pours of black epoxy to go smoothly. So I didn't even turn on the camera for this. And naturally, it all went to hell. As you can see, we have a bit of a problem. So what happened was I thought I had this slab like perfectly leveled out on this table. Something may have gotten off. I don't know. What was happening is I was filling up more of the middle and it wasn't getting in to the ends as much. It wasn't even. And so as I tried to even up the outermost pieces with epoxy, it was flowing up and over the center, which is going to be a problem because I've got to do the gold leaf inlay on those cracks. So what I ended up doing, a complete flood coat to go ahead and fill up everything in here. Now I've got to take it back over to the CNC, flatten everything, which is going to take off that beautiful dye job that I did. So essentially, I'm going almost back to zero. So cool. Switching gears and I'm going to build the base from this eight quarter walnut. And real quick, I want to show you the design of the base. I wanted something simple that didn't take away too much from the tabletop, but still had a modern vibe to it. So I came up with this minimalist design that has four wide outer legs. And these are joined by matching braces on the top and bottom. And the whole thing is assembled with dominoes and wood glue. Also, you may notice that I'm rocking this new Johnny Builds T-shirt. And now I've got merch available and you can find those just below this video. There's a little merch shelf down there. So check that out. I've got T-shirts and sweatshirts and a couple of different styles and colors. So now you know exactly what to ask for this Christmas. All right, back to that table base. And once the glue is dry, I could sand it up to 180 grit. And I'm about to commit the highest of all woodworking sins. I'm going to stain walnut with that same black dye that I use in the tabletop. Now, I tested this off camera. I think the ebonized walnut is going to look really good with the black burl. Let me know down in the comments if I'm crazy for staining this walnut or let me know if you dig it. Switching gears back to the tabletop, I've got that bottom flattened. And as we flip this over, you can see just how much heavier this table is with all that extra epoxy on top. Like I explained earlier, I have to completely surface off all that excess epoxy and I have to cut it with that circle jig again because the epoxy flowed over the edge and covered up all the wood on the side. And while I was routing the edge, the router tipped a little bit and that bit actually gouged into the side in a couple of places. Hey, Future Johnny here. It's been a little over a month since I've last touched this table for various reasons, a lot of stuff changing and life. There'll be a video on that coming really soon. I've got a beard now, sort of a, you know, Joe Dirt doesn't fully grow in kind of thing going on. And now I'm back to work on this bad boy. Where we left off was I had to completely flatten it because the black epoxy that I poured kind of spilled out over the top. Now I'm back to where I'm going to stain it black again. But before I do that, I want to address the CNC kind of bit into this thing or no, it wasn't the CNC. I did I cut this? I cut this, right? I think I cut this. I did it with that that that router thing. Anyways, it bit in in a couple of places. That's right, because I couldn't go all the way through. Like it's all coming back to me. But I really want to address this and kind of fix these gouges. I'm going to put some tape over it and try to pour some more epoxy and kind of fill that back in. Anyways, it's good to be back. It's good to be back working on this table. This is the project that I'm probably more excited about than any other. Filling those gouges on the edge with epoxy works surprisingly well. It took two pours, but I was able to get them filled into the point where it won't be noticeable in the final piece. So I'm staining the bottom first, and then I can switch to restaining the top of this table. Being my second time around, I learned a few things from my first go. And on this one, I mix more stain into the water. So it was a deeper black. And that allows me to stain the top in one go instead of having to do it in multiple layers. Believe it or not, I'm actually glad that I had to redo this, because I think it came out way better this time. I kind of switch up the method of how I did it. As you saw, I started from the middle and worked my way out. I had way less lap marks. I only had to do one coat. I think it looks pretty good now. But once I get some epoxy on this, it's really going to pop. The next thing I get to do is do that Kintsugi process. Now, I know it's for pottery, but I'm doing it on this table and I'm going to do 24 karat gold leafing on these cracks over that black epoxy. So really pleased with the progress. And now this is going to be the craziest part. And I'm so excited. Let's do it. So like I mentioned earlier, my original intent was to have the epoxy sitting about an eighth of an inch below the surface in those cracks. And that would have given me a perfect template to add the gold leaf. But because the epoxy is even with the surface of the slab, I have to tape everything off with more of that stucco tape. I'm using this adhesive and 24 karat gold leaf sheets, and I'll link both down below. I was sort of surprised how easy this process actually is. I just brush on a coat where I want to add the gold leaf and then allow that to dry for about 20 minutes until it's tacky. Then I apply the gold leaf sheet by sheet, and then I use this gilding brush to fill it all in. This stuff sticks extremely well, and the coverage was fantastic. Peeling off the tape was extremely satisfying, but unfortunately, I wasn't satisfied with how everything was looking so far. The gold leafing sort of stopped suddenly, and I wanted the appearance of the gold sort of bleeding through these cracks and then floating off into the black epoxy sections. I know that's not traditional Kintsugi, and this is the result that I was wanting. Now I can fully penetrate this slab with more Total Boat Penetrating Epoxy. Seeing that stain and the burl of the slab pop against that gold leaf inlay gives me a lot of satisfaction. And I want to let you all know this table will be for sale on my website after this video goes live. I'll even pay to create it and ship it anywhere. In the lower 48 states here in the U.S. and I can't wait to see it find a good home. I inlaid some sea channel on the underside and flipped it over for those final coats of Total Boat Tabletop Epoxy. You all know that both Total Boat and Rockler are longtime sponsors of my channel. I've got links for all those Total Boat and Rockler products that I use down in the video description. And when you support my sponsors, you help support this channel. And as always, I really appreciate that. Also, it's super important to have as clean and dust free of a shop as possible because any tiny hair or dust particle floating in the air will inevitably end up in the epoxy. That and flies and gnats. Why do they love epoxy so much? Another thing I really love about tabletop epoxy is that it's a one to one mix ratio, which makes it easy for those who are math challenged like Jeff. I will say I stir this epoxy for almost 10 minutes. And the reason it took so long to mix is because I was mixing it slowly to prevent stirring up extra bubbles before I do that pour. I started the pour in the middle of the table and then work my way outward. And just like the penetrating epoxy, I'm spreading it out by hand. I left that to cure overnight and then came back to check on it the next day. It's the next day and that first flood coat of tabletop epoxy has cured and it is looking really, really good. Everything is nice and level. I see no bubbles, but there's one issue and it happens every time. There's a gnat in the epoxy. What is it with gnats and flies and epoxy? I don't know. But every single time this happens, I got to dig that guy out of there, sand the top to get it ready for the next pour. And then I'm going to babysit and watch this like a freaking hawk. This should be my last flood coat. And I can finally finish this table. Thankfully, that little guy was not fully embedded in the epoxy, so I didn't have to scrape off too much. Now the whole table gets a light sanding with 320 grit to prep it for that final flood coat, which I applied just like the first. This time, I spent four hours just monitoring the table as the epoxy cured, and that was to make sure no more gnats made their way into this piece. OK, so it's been about an hour since I poured the epoxy and every 30 minutes I'm coming out here and just checking on everything, popping those bubbles as I need to. Little hair right there or a piece of dust. I need to get that out. This is why I should be wearing a freaking hairnet. I had such a good finish with this TotalBoat tabletop epoxy that I didn't need to sand and polish the epoxy. I did, however, add some carbon method nano finish. Epoxy finishes look great, but without extra protection, these can get scratched up. And with this carbon method, I'm adding two layers of a nano ceramic finish that's going to protect the epoxy and add some more sheen. Now, the first coat is 9H hardness, and this is what provides the main protection for the table. The second coat I'm applying is 7H hardness and a little bit more flexible. So essentially, the first coat protects the table and the second coat protects the first coat. Given this table I'm selling, I need to make sure that it's protected for daily use and it's going to look good for a long time. And I'll make sure to link the carbon method down below. Last, I added some Rubio Monocoat to the underside of the table and to the table base, and we can put this whole thing together. So I'm really happy with the way this table came out. While it's not true kintsugi, the original intent was to repair this broken slab and make it even more beautiful than it was to begin with. And I feel like we achieved that. But what do you think? Let me know down in the comments below. Am I going to woodworking hell for saving the slab and the walnut? Personally, I think both look way better. But I wouldn't apply this technique to most of the tables I build. But in this case, it was the perfect fit. And a reminder, when you support my sponsors, you help support this channel. I've got merch now. So go grab you a Johnny Bills T-shirt and be the coolest kid at your local Home Depot. And if you like this video and my corny dad jokes and just bad tattoos, then lightly tap the subscribe button. No need to smash it. I don't want you to break your phone or your computer. That would be dumb. Here at Johnny Bills, I care about my viewers devices, even if other woodworking channels don't. As always, thanks for checking this one out. And I'll see you back here next time. Comment the devil made me do it. If you like the black stain, my child comment, thou shall not stain if you agree with me.