A few weeks ago I was contacted by a customer of mine, and asked to make a large (48" by 100") walnut table with a slab top, and very plain overall appearance.
Surprisingly, my normal wholesaler was able to quickly source me some 12/4 black walnut, in 10' lengths and pretty darn good stock at that.
I wanted to do something other than just have a "plain" base trestles (their initial idea) so I proposed using some walnut burl veneer from my private stash - and making some panels that would be set into the trestle faces.
Another easy job with the CNC router (and not so easy without).
I laminated the 32" wide by 27.5" panels (all 2 3/4" thick) and pocketed the two sides on the router. Yesterday I vacuum bagged the burl veneer onto a piece of 1/4", and today I cut the panels out on the CNC as well.
Took 4 minutes to pocket each face of the trestles, and about a minute per panel to cut out (all with a 3/8" spiral). I allowed 15 thousandths clearance, and they slip fit ever so nicely into the pockets.
Here are some pics.. I just finished sanding the top and trestles before the end of the day, and applied a coat of clear oil to bring out the grain. Will be finished next week with post catalyzed lacquer.
The burl panels after layup...
Cutting the panels. I do a pass climb cutting, almost all the way through, then a conventional pass cutting through. Everything held down on the universal vacuum table.
Pocketing the trestle panels..
And the panels set into the trestles (set down 1/4" from the face)..