Warp 2.5

I took my courage in my hands yesterday and made crosscuts in the bottom of the ash slab to destress it. They were half the depth of the slab, which was the most I dared go, at 5cm intervals and 8cm from the edges. My battery powered circular saw wasn't up to the job, but the 110V Makita 235mm circular saw cut through the ash like it was butter.

I ended up with a bucket of sawdust, which Hay's sister salvaged for her raku pottery firing.

The warp has reduced from 3.5cm to 2.5cm on its own, but the slab is now far more pliable. With No.1 Son standing on one end and me on the other, it will bend level flat with ease.

I now need to find something for it to rest on in the living room, like a couple of small dining tables, so it can acclimatise to the house before doing any further work. A few more saw cuts my yet be required - either making the exiting ones deeper, a few longitudinal cuts or, better still, some diagonal cuts at right angles to the warp line.

I'm still not sure what to do with the quirky defects in the wood.

The orthodox treatment is to fill with body filler mixed with black oxide and rub it flat. However, I like the defects as they are. I could simply fill them with clear or translucent red or blue resin. I could even sink a couple of LEDs into the resin and poke the wiring out through the bottom, attaching a small battery pack to the underside of the table to illuminate the resin, but that may look a bit kitsch in our house. Filling them with something, however, is a necessity, as they can have a tendency to be a focus for splits.

I managed to burn out the 2nd hand belt sander I bought for £15 (I was putting too much pressure on it), but found that my orbital sander, fitted with the cut belt from the belt sander, performed better. The belts are near indestructible and don't clog, unlike normal rolls of orbital sander paper.

At least the garage can be cleared shortly for the Triumph GT6 project.

I also picked up a router from someone in Yate who, as it happens, is a carpenter and has made his own table, although from planks of wood and nowhere near as rustic as mine. He went for the river of resin look.