46 tables and benches

[Randy Walker]

As promised in my last thread (Sign project) here are some pictures of some of the tables and benches that I made from reclaimed pine. The trees were harvested nearly 200 years ago in the 1830's. The wood is beautiful tight straight grained and full of pitch and gum. Overall some of the nastiest wood I have ever used, but it is still beautiful when it is finished. This wood had been a part of some old grain silo's and mill. After being torn down in the 1980's it was stored in a large warehouse has been sold a little at a time to interested buyers. There are hundreds of nail holes from cut nails (and some nailes missed by the demolission crew), and some bug dammage. The left over nails had to be found and pulled (we found most of them) to keep them from trashing my planer blades. A couple did get by and made a mess of my blades. The pitch and gum got all over my tools and gummed up nearyl $100 worth of sand paper. All of the nail holes had to be filled which added lots of labor and cost for the filler. Over all I am pleased with the finished product but working with this wood is a nightmare. The pitch and gum in the wood and the left over metal make it difficult to work with. The pine smell in the Tennessee summer heat after two weeks is almost overwhelming too. I know I will be doing more projects with this wood but I still would much rather have a nice stack of kiln dried hard wood to work with.

Randy Walker

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[Mike Wilkins]

Really fine work. I have also worked with some old heart pine and agree it is a bear to work with, especially the nail removal. What type finish did you use, and what type environment are they going in to??

[Ryan Hellmer]

Nice work. Something that could help in the future is having this wood kilned to "set" the pitch.

Ryan

[Troy Turner]

Randy -

Great looking tables. From all the fill-ins, I can see where this would've been a PITA! I'm going to go out on a limb here and say these are for the restauraunt you made the sign for?

For as little as I do, I'd sure love to get ahold of some pine like that!!! Beautiful grain and the history of it just adds to it!

[Randy Walker]

Mike I used one coat of Minwax 245 golden pecan stain to even out the color. Then 3 coats of Minwax floor polly. They went to a restaurant in Baltamor, and the signs went to Washington DC. My client does theming work for clubs, restaruants, and theme parks all over the country. Most of these tables and benches will be used indoors but the round ones are going outside. We just started using a new 2 part product that looks promising. It is supposed to be impervious to most chemical, and uv degradatin and super water resistant. It is called "polyaspartic" finish. It is mixed like epoxy, hardens like epoxy, and even looks like epoxy, but it is not epoxy. Infact I am headed over to the finishing group to see if anyone knows about this stuff.

Randy Walker

[Brian Tymchak]

...We just started using a new 2 part product that looks promising. It is supposed to be impervious to most chemical, and uv degradatin and super water resistant. It is called "polyaspartic" finish. It is mixed like epoxy, hardens like epoxy, and even looks like epoxy, but it is not epoxy...

Hi Randy, what is the brand name on that? I built some hot tub steps in white oak last year and the 6 coats of marine varnish did not hold up. I'm wondering if this might be a good alternative.

Thanks, Brian

[Jeff Monson]

Randy, you have done that pine well, those tables have character that cannot be reproduced! Very nice...but it even looks hard to work with.

Keep us posted on the outdoor finish, I'd like to find something that holds up well.

[Randy Walker]

Hi Brian
I am not sure of the name on the 2 part mix but I am pretty sure it was purchaced at Sherman Williams. It is a product that is used a lot by the concretre industry.

Randy Walker

[Brian Kent]

Bryan, what kind of marine varnish did you use? I am about to use Epifanes Marine Varnish on white oak so I am wondering about your experience.

Randy, watch for epoxy tables having an easily scratched surface. A new restaurant had some tables made with a beautiful, thick glossy epoxy finish that showed scratches every time someone slid a plate. I don't know the product or the cure time, but he's having to have them refinished.

[Randy Walker]

Hi Bryan
I used Helmsmans but Epifanes makes an excelent product too.
The 2 part stuff is not an epoxy. It is a poly-alphatic resin concocution. The stuff is tuff as nails. It has to be mixed in small batches because it sets up in 10 minutes. It can be diluted with acetone but acetone does not disolve it. Acetone has no effect on it after it cures either. In fact I don't even know what will disolve it. The brushes have to be discarded after use because you can't get the stuff out of them. I've been told that it is sprayable too but without something to clean it up with there is no way I am going to put it in my sprayer.
As far as the tables at the restaurant go, they probably didn't get enough hardener in the mix, or didn't get it mixed well enough. The epoxy is very sensative to mix ratio's and mixing.

Randy Walker

[Bobby O'Neal]

Were these local trees? What part of the state are you in?

[Randy Walker]

Bobby
I live just south of SH on the Columbia side. I’ll send you a pm with more detail.

Randy Walker