Replies

1. 
   PJohn | Jun 29, 2005 02:59am | #1

   Hi ...

   A little hard to respond in detail without more info...

   If you're banding the edges, does one presume you intend to joint them square and flat?

   If the patina is to be preserved, can you tolerate a few protective coats of varnish on it before banding and finishing? I go there with the thought that any subsequent finishing would lie atop that varnish and could be scraped/sanded without destroying the door's character. In that case, I'd varnish before cutting, jointing, or doing anything else with the door, and let the varnish cure for at least 2 weeks before risking any mechanical or finishing work.

   What color is it? Would fumed oak, for instance, be a good choice for a tough but "old looking" band? (I'm not keen on pine for table edges because of softness.)

   Off the top, it strikes me that preserving every edge discontinuity could possibly make it look as though you'd just framed a plaque with edging. To integrate, you may want to remove a portion of the "bad stuff" when jointing, and fill just at those that add the most significant character.

   If you protective-varnish first, then slow set (clear) epoxy might be a good filler, which you could VERY carefully plane and scrape to the approximate level of the top without cutting through the varnish. If the top's edges have lots of surface variation, you could even deliberately carve/distort the edge band slightly to follow that contour. With that approach, I'd make a few short samples of the intended banding, and then fiddle with teaching myself just how to carve it up to look reasonably convincing - before ever gluing anything in place!

   My thoughts go to adding a band via something akin to the new 45deg router bits so that there's plenty of body and glue surface on most of the edge, but only a tiny bit is revealed at the door's surface plane. With protective varnish in place, that revealed new wood could be stained, varnished, and worked flush without cutting into the patina.

   A parallel thought - in the banding, you could consider adding flutes, beads, or grooves of some sort to suggest a more antique design approach. Beads would allow you to integrate the rounded bead into the door's surface edge without introducing a sharp new contour. A combination with beads at the edges and a deeper, figured center band might be quite handsome. If you fume, any millwork should be completed before fuming.

   For what it's worth, I'd be fearful of using poly to fill deep areas. Even non-yellowing poly will eventually darken a little (or tend to amber) and a deep fill might become overly dark or even opaque over time.

   If you've a rough spot on the edge with a fairly tall inner reveal for the band, it would help to hide the new banding were you to deliberately extend the damage into the banding, so that the new joint's straight line is less visible. Given that, you could even consider the potential to only partially fill the deep spots, and rely on the slight meniscus of the wet filler to provide a rounded transition, and thus actually extend/integrate the existing damage into the new wood. That is, add new and then hurt it a bit for simulated aging. Stain or furniture color pens can help marginalize the actual joint if it's still visible before filling.

   Ummm ... oh, yeah - protecting the old finish is going to be heart-attack city. I'd consider the poly protective coat(s), but still add something like 10-mil plastic using a lightly-adhesive tape, such as 3M's 60-day stuff, and carefully strip/replace every day or two so as to be danged sure that the tape doesn't damage the old surface. Helpful to have the tape in place while edges are jointed.

   It sounds to me as though you've an entirely rational and workable project that's just going to take a lot of hand work to get old and new living together comfortably. Bet it's a beaut when it's done!

   Them's me thinks for the moment - hope something in there might give you a useful idea.

   ---John

2. 
   jazzdogg | Jun 29, 2005 05:42am | #2

   Gravitas,

   I'm not sure that I understand what you're trying to do. Are you talking about applying rabbeted cockbeading, for lack of a better term, around the perimiter of the door, leaving the door face untouched, and positioning a piece of glass - the new tabletop - in the rabbet?

   -Jazzdogg-

   "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." Bertrand Russell

3. 
   joinerswork | Jun 29, 2005 04:15pm | #3

   Gravitas,

   Epoxy? Poly?

   Plate glass?

   Reagrds,

   Ray

4. 
   notDusty | Jun 29, 2005 04:33pm | #4

               Gravitas ,

                                I would consider what Jazzdog and Joinerswork have posted , perhaps cut a dado or a rabbit large enough to cover and lap over the existing and worn edge . Sounds like you want to preserve the original finish and patina of the old door , so a good fitting piece of glass sitting inside the frame of the edging may do the trick .

                             good  luck                    dusty

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jun 29, 2005 11:49pm | #5

   I agree with dusty and the others.. What I know?

1. 
   Gravitas2 | Jun 30, 2005 02:39am | #6

   The door will say a door, I won't be joining any new edges on it. The thought was the banding around the door for a consistent edge. I had thought glass at one time but thought that might reflect and distract from the antique look too much.

   I thought that poly as a filler would age and discolor, I'll avoid that.

   Thanks guys.

5. 
   Steinmetz | Jun 30, 2005 02:43am | #7

   Grav, Check out Timbermate (Australian) by Rockler in the US
   Stein. http://www.timbermate.com/

   
   

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   Edited 6/29/2005 7:48 pm ET by steinmetz