finishing almond wood

hi there, i hope everyones day/ night has been going well,
im trying to make a Japanese tea table,
i got 2 beautiful almond slabs, it is part of the end peace of the log i got it for $3 so im not complaining but if i remove the bark most of the slab is gone especially on the under side, can someone please help with sealing the bark on the slab, the bottem of the slab is basically all bark and removing it would remove alot of thickness from the slab so i thought i could seal it with a poly or sum, i dont fave a very high budget for this project so i need something that i can seal the bark with but also finish the tip with

for those who dont know, almond is the sister wood to walnut and looks very similar in color and many other things,

what im planning to build with this is a Japanese tea table, im going to make a water fall edge on the one side, and the on the other i wil put another peace of either almond or olive wood for some contrast as a beam to support it and keep the live edge,

all your help is greatly appreciated
thank you,
Abood Hart

As far as I know there's no reliable way to consolidate bark and ensure it'll stay firmly in place. If you Google the subject you'll see many suggestions for hardening or toughening up bark, including using penetrating epoxy (expensive), wood hardener and one or more very thin coats of varnish. These definitely work to varying degrees, the same way they can on punky areas in spalted wood, but they won't do much of anything to reinforce the bond of the bark to the layer underneath.

How thin do you estimate the slab will be with the bark removed? It's understandable if you want it to look thick and chunky you'll lose that but I didn't think this was a specific aesthetic of tables for the tea ceremony.

hey man thanks alot for your insight, ill try to get it some pictures of the slabs so you can get an idea

thanks alot for replying btw

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Originally Posted by ED65

As far as I know there's no reliable way to consolidate bark and ensure it'll stay firmly in place. If you Google the subject you'll see many suggestions for hardening or toughening up bark, including using penetrating epoxy (expensive), wood hardener and one or more very thin coats of varnish. These definitely work to varying degrees, the same way they can on punky areas in spalted wood, but they won't do much of anything to reinforce the bond of the bark to the layer underneath.

How thin do you estimate the slab will be with the bark removed? It's understandable if you want it to look thick and chunky you'll lose that but I didn't think this was a specific aesthetic of tables for the tea ceremony.

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its around a courter inch on the one side if all the bark is removed but 2,5inches on the other with 0 bark, i might just cuz that bad side off or something
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