Help with driftwood

[John Coloccia]

I need to make a couple of end tables but I'm looking for something a little different. I was thinking of making them out of figured cherry with some bloodwood (or other, darker wood) accents, and some nice, meaty chunks of driftwood for the center pillar. Anyone ever work with driftwood? Can you cut it without destroying blades? Best way to finish it? Will it take stain? Can you glue it, or must you use mechanical fasteners?

I'm completely out of my element here but we just converted the "TV room" (living room, I guess) into a library/sitting area, and it's right near our dining room. All the furniture in both rooms are Danish and Swedish sitting on hardwood floors. Very clean and simple lines. We went with her Finnish design sensibilities here. I'm Italian. If it were up to me, it'd be fuzzy, paisley wallpaper and religious statues. LOL. I need something really organic to warm up the space, and I thought driftwood, tastefully done, might do the trick.

Oh..the TV ended up in a corner of the house where it belongs. I haven't watched TV in years. What a waste of time. I'm way too busy surfing the net to waste time with the boob tube. :rolleyes:

Any help most appreciated :D

[Rich Neighbarger]

What species of drift wood are we talking about? Yes it can be cut, and yes it can be finished. Are you ripping it into planks, or finishing it straight from the beach?

[Kevin Begos]

I've done just a little bit of carving w/ driftwood and found that
down here on the Gulf Coast it absorbs salt from the salt water
and gets very, very hard. You can work it, but easy to split.

[Ed Griner]

John where are you finding driftwood.Is it for sale up your way?Let me know. Ed

[John Coloccia]

re: where to find driftwood and what species

Species: don't know. It's tough to tell sometimes once it's been floating around for a while. I'm guessing that the harder pieces are maybe maples or birch, but I'm not really sure what the characteristics of driftwood are and if my intuitions about different species still apply once mother nature has done it's thing.

Where: I live in New England. It's pretty easy to come by on our northern "beaches". I put that in quotes because I'm really just talking about the accessible shoreline. The beaches are kept pretty clean. I usually look at it, admire it and pass it up because I've never had any reason to work it

re: what kinds of cuts, splitting etc
My plan is to use it as natural as possible. I'm hoping to find some nice, gnarly clumps of branches that I can use for making end tables out of. I pass up nice,hard pieces like this all the time so it shouldn't be too hard to find around here. The plan would be to make a reasonable and unobtrusive base, driftwood for a pillar, and a simple table top.

I was most concerned with the salt content possibly leading to corrosion on a bandsaw, for example. Also, what kinds of finishes might work well. I don't really want a faded, white piece. I'm hoping to stain it, or do some other finish, that will look a little more alive. Does sanding expose more colorful wood? I'm not sure what to expect.

And thanks much for any advice anyone has to offer.

[Gary Breckenridge]

I'd say go for it. I have done a few projects with driftwood and been happy with the results. Now for the warnings::eek:

1. Check for nails and internal metal.
2. Use older saw blades and planer blades.
3. Avoid wood with oil and chemical stains.
4. Imbedded sand and rocks can be nasty.
5. Work a sample piece and finish it first.
6. Have 50% more wood than you think you need; you will need it.
7. Realize it a one/off piece and can't be completely copied.
8. Unless the wood has a uniqueness or real beauty buy regular wood.
9. Unless the actual wood is the focus it is kind of pointless.
10. The wood needs to be washed and dried thoroughly.

Good luck.:cool:

[Kent A Bathurst]

John - FWIW - I have a BS blade, a TS blade, and a CMS blade that are at the lower-end of the $ scale, and are used only for stuff where I don't want to torture the Forrest/Lenox/etc stuff. Like, treated lumber, gnarly - dirty stuff, etc. Since I don't do a lot of this stuff, they last a long time (calendar time, not run time). In total, all 3 cost less than a WW II. Oh - plus a couple Forstner bits, coupla router bits, couple brad-point drill bits.

[David Helm]

+1 on what Gary said!

[roman fedyk]

I have made a couple of tables from driftwood when I lived in Florida. One of the tables actually had powder post beetles in it and needless to say ruined the table with their little holes. Could not be saved and had to be tossed.

Remember that sometimes the reason the driftwood is driftwood is because something untoward happened to the tree to make it fall into the water. Sometimes it is because it could be infested, or due to weather, etc.

Because you are working with an unknown, be careful when using driftwoods.