Replies

1. 
   beachfarm | Feb 14, 2008 02:39am | #1

   I built a table for our pantry from Douglas Fir timbers reclaimed from a turn-of-the-century telegraph line. The wood originated out West, sat in another shop for close to 30 years, THEN came to me. Beautiful stock with dense grain, lumps, bumps and stains from iron hardware.

   It's one of the few pieces I've built that allowed defects as part of the design. Major defects (voids) were filled with like-colored shellac sticks (dark or light, depending on the void). Minor voids and imperfections were left alone. The piece was finished with a wash coat of shellac and top coats of varnish.

   Oil (as a finish) and Douglas Fir do not mix, in my opinion. Try a sample and you might find that the wood looks muddy. And it never fully regains clarity.

   Nice project, btw. Reclaimed industrial Douglas Fir has a charm like no other wood...

1. 
   kwo | Feb 14, 2008 05:03am | #3

   Sounds like the doug fir is from a similar source as yours. Do you prefer a brand or type of shellac or varnish?Thanks for your time. kwo

1. 
   beachfarm | Feb 14, 2008 03:55pm | #6

   The wash coat was de-waxed amber shellac - thinned and sprayed. All the stock was of similar age but not all of it had turned the typical nut brown. Shellac helped unify the color of the wood without the need for dyes (or stains). Spraying made for an easy application. What brand of shellac? Probably Zinser.I used Varathane for the top coat. It flows well, sands easily, builds fast and provides a durable amber finish. Brush on or spray (if thinned).With Douglas Fir, the less you do the better. If I were to build a similar table today, I'd do nothing more than topcoat with varnish.I still have two or three large timbers in the wood loft. They're now well over 100 years old. I have no idea what to do with them...

2. 
   theRev | Feb 14, 2008 02:52am | #2

   I second the shellac suggestion. A nice amber shellac will look nice, I think. Spray several light cuts of shellac. Should come up great. Just watch out for alcohol splashes at dinner time!

3. 
   SteveSheriff | Feb 14, 2008 09:22am | #4

   I finished a similar project last year. The top is reclaimed western hemlock, and the trestles are reclaimed doug fir, both out of old barns, with some cherry accents. I chose to fill the knots, cracks and holes in the top with inlaid cherry butterflys. In the past I've inlaid grain-matched rectangular pieces into areas with gouges and sap and they hide pretty well.

   I tried oils but couldn't get a non-blotchy finish on the hemlock so I eventually went with a wipe-on poly (water and wine bead up on it nicely).

   
1. 
   kwo | Feb 14, 2008 02:42pm | #5

   That's a nice looking table. What size is it? Is there a particular brand of poly you like? Thanks! kwo

1. 
   SteveSheriff | Feb 14, 2008 07:59pm | #7

   Thanks. The table is 80" x 42" x 30" tall. I like the thin polys with plenty of coats and sanding at 400 between those coats. I used Minwax's wipe-on for my table.

2. 
   pzaxtl | Feb 15, 2008 07:27am | #8

   Hey Steve,

   Nice table!  Curious, the contrasting keys that appear on the edge grain between the breadboard end and the table -- are they inlet keys, or through loose tenons?  And why did you choose one over the other.  It appears you drew your design inspiration from Greene & Greene, and the contrasting wood in the keys/tenons appear to be a different wood than cherry (or, at least, a darker shade of cherry).  Just curious as it's a nice design detail.

1. 
   SteveSheriff | Feb 15, 2008 08:47am | #9

   The cherry breadboard ends have a dadoed mortise that fits a 2" stub tenon routed from the main table top. That seemed like an easy approach but it took a lot of hand planing/fitting to get a clean 42" butt joint at the surface.  I used the splines to cover the open end of the mortise and as a design detail. The splines are wenge, as are the tapered pins in the stretcher's mortises. The breadboard ends, butterflys, and center trestle pieces are cherry.