Ash II

Following a friend's recommendation, I've placed the slab on 3 bearers, having added some sandbags to the opposite ends of the twist in the slab. I will keep playing the sprinkler hose over it to try to relax the twist.

In the lower photo you can see the right side is raised from the horizonal, with the diametrically opposed corner also being raised by the same amount.

The side that is uppermost in these photos will be the top of the table, with the chamfer sloping out from the centreline.

The bark is beautiful and I'm hoping to retain it, but I fear that it may drop off as the slab dries out. I suppose I could peg or epoxy it in place, but I'll do some research. Even the areas where the bark has already come off  (bottom photo) look good.

I found another site with some tips.

Even if I have no success with this piece of ash, at £140 a pop I can always buy another, so all will not be lost.

Overnight the gap between the bottom of one corner of the slab and the bearer reduced from 3.5cm to 3cm, so there's hope it may be working. 

Gave up trying to power wash the patio with a 3,000 PSI jet washer I hired - it was worse than my 115 PSI job and there's no way 3,000 PSI were coming out of the business end. Picked it up when the shop opened at 8am and didn't stir myself into action till the rain stopped at 12. Decided to return it to the hire shop after 10 minutes of jetting, but missed them by 30 minutes - they were closed. Bugger! I'll have to pay for the entire weekend. Might give it another go today and fiddle with the nozzle to see if I can improve the result.