Refinishing is not really my thing. But I'm always up for something different and besides, it was on the honey-do list, so what choice did I have? This table was my wife's mom's. Before she died (26 years ago), she had started sanding the top, preparing to refinish it. We've been using it as a shoe shelf and stuff catcher for the last 7 years. It was time.
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| An interesting little table. Top is 12" x 24". It is 24 1/4" tall. |
Here's how the table is constructed. The legs fit through holes in a batten, which was glued and screwed to the underside of the top. The leg tenons extended through the battens and into depressions in the top.
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| Underside of table |
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| Legs detached from table top |
Each front leg is attached to a back leg with a turned rail, whose tenons are about 3/4" long and 3/4" diameter. One of them was loose and had to be re-glued. The 5/16" thick shelf is glued into grooves in the two rails. The shelf has a VERY rough underside. I got to thinking about the method used to make the turned rails with a groove. Perhaps plow a groove in square, over-long stock, glue in a stick to fill the groove so the edges of the groove don't blow out too badly when turning. But only apply glue at the ends (that would be cut off later) and a tiny spot in the middle (that could be chiseled out later). Remove the stick after turning and voila.
First thing I did was to plane, scrape and sand the top. I worked both sides and removed as much finish as I could, and was surprised how light (in color) the wood was.
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| Top of the top |
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| Underside |
I filled a couple of small chips on the underside that extended to the edges.
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| Outline marked out |
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| Then excavated, glued in patches and planed flush |
I didn't want to risk taking the undercarriage apart, so it was a hassle working on it. Scraping and sanding the turned legs was time-consuming and tough. But in the end it looked pretty good.
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| Top and undercarriage prepared for re-finishing |
I used the underside of the top to show my wife what three different stains might look like. I tried the stains with and without a pre-coat of shellac.
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| Shellac applied before stain (above) and stain only (below) |
We both liked the Behlen American Walnut stain with shellac undercoat - upper left in pic. After a single coat of shellac and light sanding, the stain was applied with a small rag, working lighter areas more to get as even a color as I had patience for. The next day, I applied some water-based "polycrylic" finish with a brush. The top and shelf got two coats with light sanding in between.
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| And there she is |
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| The top looks good |
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| And back in service |
I'm really happy with how this came out. All the work sanding was worth the time spent. More importantly, the wife is very pleased with how it came out.
I've been thinking about an alternate solution for shoe storage that would replace this little table. The wall that it is against is at about a 45° angle to the wall at the left. I'd like to design a piece that wraps around that 45° corner. Maybe there will be more on that in a future post.
Good job on the consistent color. Do you know what kind of wood it is made from?
ReplyDeleteDon't know what the wood is, but I'll rule out any of the porous woods like oak or ash. Don't think it's cherry or poplar, either. Could be maple, but not certain.
DeleteGood job, came out looking back in its former glory. I like that detail on the underside, where the legs fit, there is a hole so banging the legs in wont push out the top.
ReplyDeleteBob
Thanks, Bob. Something I didn't mention in the post: I thought it was a bad idea to have the legs fit through the battens and into holes in the underside of the top. It is already a worry (for wood movement) about gluing the battens to the top, but if the batten was only glued in the middle it would be OK. But having the tops of the legs through the batten and in those holes could cause problems, too. For that reason, I elongated the holes in the underside of the top. Not that it's too much of a worry here in California, but I like to do things the right way.
DeleteInteresting comments you made about that batten Matt. I guess in the end the answer about your concerns is how the table survived all these years. But heh, that has never stopped me to overbuilt, overcome :-)
ReplyDeleteBob, relaxing with the dogs
Yeah, I wonder how old the table is. All I know is that Karene's mother owned it 26 years ago. Who knows, maybe it was passed to her from her own mother years before. But it has lasted quite a while.
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