Hat Status: Officially Over the Fence

I made some cuts yesterday...

There's quite a check in this end. Yikes! This may require some remediatory action.

This end is pretty good. It's got a bit of a knot near the end which means super-tough wood. This might be a good place for chopping dovetails.

Here's the section that will be on the far side of the table. I've got a couple of ideas for this piece that will add some complexity but should also make the whole project really distinctive.

Here are two cringe-inducing pictures:

As you can see, there is still a lot of flattening to be done. Hopefully that #7 will come in today. You'll notice that opposite corners are up which means that this guy is twisted, rather than just cupped/crowned. Grrrr, are we having fun yet? I see lots more planing in my future:

(This is actually trashcan o' shavings #2; a full bag went down to the curb this morning.)

Here's a partial solution for that nasty check on the one end:

I've got a massive end vice that would easily span the two sections and stabilize them pretty well. For a couple of reasons I had pictured this end having the face vice (opposite the end vice) but the situation may warrant a change. I'm also planning on epoxying the void to stabilize it; I'm thinking un-dyed amber West System would do it. I wish they sold it in smaller quantities...any donors out there?