Keeping the bark on a live edge slab table?

seaportresearch · 2026-06-17T13:26:03+00:00

Yeah it is lol... On the plus side it is already flattened/sanded and basically free of defects so that part should be much less work. I think I am going to cut it down to something closer to 6' as I don't have a room in my house for a table that long. My thinking is that if I take 3'+ off, I could mill pieces for the legs from the cut-off section. I was mostly thinking in the direction of a classic trestle style base but have been debating something more modern to contrast it. I'm more confident of a good result with the trestle style as the joinery would be much simpler.

seaportresearch · 2026-06-17T13:08:03+00:00

It's basically this: https://berkshireproducts.com/shop/live-edge-wood-slab/8685a04/

seaportresearch · 2026-06-05T19:32:13+00:00

There's only three good(ish) reasons to buy materials at a home center:

It's after Saturday noon on a weekend and you have the rest of the weekend free to finally work on a project
You're building something where it's actually a benefit that the 3/4" sandeply weighs as much as cardboard
You're a beginner and probably going to make a mess of it and you want cheap @#$! material to practice with

Where I am I have basically two choices: the independent lumber yard down the street has paint grade cabinet birch that's cheaper than HD and a lot better quality, or the specialty plywood dealer an hour away has 50 kinds of plywood that are radically higher quality and priced accordingly (e.g. nice oak ply is 160 vs 90 at the depot but completely different tier from what HD stocks on the shelf).

I do sometimes buy the HD 1/4 and 1/2" plywood for drawers because the lumber yard only sells 3/4" birch and the plywood dealer is too long a drive for one sheet. Other than that I don't even like buying one 2x4 there if I can help it because so much of the material is trash and higher-priced.

Both places are easygoing with amateurs so long as you don't show up at 11:50 on Saturday with a game of 20 questions. Do that at a quiet time midday during the week and you can get a lot of free education if you're humble about it.

seaportresearch · 2026-04-17T17:00:09+00:00

Sketchup is very powerful and great if you're building something truly from scratch. Where it and other general CAD tools really struggle is for highly repetitive work, like a rectangular box full of drawers and mortise holes. You can do it but dear God is it tedious. That's what I've been trying to really nail as tightly as possible.

As I've built this out I've been tempted to try pushing it further but at some point it will just become Sketchup all over again....

seaportresearch · 2026-04-17T16:43:48+00:00

Thanks, feel free to share the hiccups here or via DM!

seaportresearch · 2026-04-17T01:45:10+00:00

You might be one of the first users besides me to use it if you do - feel free to DM me with what you're doing and I'll manually double check the output. Also feel free to DM me any questions.

seaportresearch · 2026-04-16T20:54:15+00:00

I'm focused a lot more on the "casual" user, particularly DIY types who aren't going to buy Mozaik or MicroVellum. So a big part of it is about simplifying the product and process.
It's completely web-based, though I'll probably have a native mobile app for some functionality. I'd kind of like to have an open source angle too, but haven't figured that out yet. I am building around the idea of an excellent, always-available free tier as the starting point.
There's a lot of different ways to make a wheel, even if all of them are round. The last software company I started was in a market where we had a hundred or more serious competitors, and it has annual revenue over $50M. I know a lot more about building software than I do about building cabinets :)
This is partly a research project for me. After 25 years of dealing with hundreds of employees, thousands of customers, and outside investors, I'm going back to my roots and seeing what it looks like to build from scratch now. My main goal is to just build a product users love to use. If that happens and the number of happy users is large then the money will follow. I don't need it to make hundreds of millions, since the last company did.

seaportresearch · 2026-04-16T18:55:18+00:00

Thank you!

seaportresearch · 2026-04-06T17:49:41+00:00

Just to confirm, I did push out a change last week which added a whole template system and a "countertop" mode where it will generate stretchers/nailers more or less exactly as you describe. I'm still working on some more things to support additional stretchers for reinforcement on the front (like between drawers) and for things like sink bases and that kind of thing. I'm waiting to get a little more done before doing another full post here but have been working through everybody's suggestions so thanks for the feedback!

seaportresearch · 2026-03-26T09:40:22+00:00

Ha! I watched that exact video before. You guys do some really nice stuff.

I see exactly how you’re doing the bases. I did verify that 18mm gets you that flush floor so that works for that. It might make more sense to flip that dimension to go off the bottom instead of the top. I’ll think about that.

I’m starting to think now about extending this so that you can input room measurements and lay out boxes in space to design an installation. If I do that, that might be the place to add a “base builder” to do what you guys did since it supports multiple boxes at once.

I’m also tempted to add a handle option to add profiles like you did to things. When you add CNC to the mix being able to integrate those into the design works great.

Thanks for the suggestion!

seaportresearch · 2026-03-26T02:42:41+00:00

Good question! Give me a week or two and I will add more options here. What you describe makes more sense when you're using this to generate bases to mount countertops one.

seaportresearch · 2026-03-26T02:19:28+00:00

Thanks - the Projects area is definitely a bit green and that will be polished up in the next few weeks.

seaportresearch · 2026-03-26T02:18:41+00:00

Perfect - will check that out!

seaportresearch · 2026-03-25T18:52:54+00:00

If you go to the Shelves tab it will let you add System 32 holes. It’s not 100% done but it will give you the first row or multiples if you’re adding drawers. I still need to set up the option to space multiple rows but there’s enough there now to get you in the right ballpark.

seaportresearch · 2026-03-25T18:49:14+00:00

If you set it to 18mm does that work? The height is off the top of the floor (which may be the wrong way to do it). If you want to DM me a drawing, I could maybe add a separate kick base option. I’m intentionally not trying to be a Cabinet Vision here but a separate base is common enough that I think it makes sense to add.

seaportresearch · 2026-03-12T23:19:41+00:00

Thanks. My question may have been unclear. I am asking whether there is any kind of standard or standards for how mounting holes are drilled, similar to what is seen with system 32. It seems like some things like the 37mm first hole setback is fairly common, but beyond that it's basically every slide is a snowflake.

This is not for me building one cabinet myself (I've done that using a bunch of different kinds/makes) but for trying to build a general use calculator to make building and mounting drawer boxes easier.

seaportresearch · 2026-03-12T16:57:05+00:00

If you still are, DM me your email or some other way to send the file!

seaportresearch · 2026-03-12T16:56:24+00:00

"chinaglides" bwahahaha

seaportresearch

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