How can I make this finish?

[tommy.p135]

Hi Guys,

First post here.

I found this table in an imports shop. I have no idea what the timber is, but I absolutely love the finish.
410208
Any ideas on 1. How to artificially replicate the scarring and 2. How to obtain the colours? In particular, I want to figure out how to get that dark, almost black look in the scarring and the dull caramel in the smooth parts.

Any help is welcome.

Cheers.

[ozka]

I reckon its just the saw scars. Rough sawn on a bandsaw mill. Minimal sanding to smooth out the high spots that will take a stain properly. The rougher deep saw marks will suck in the stain going much darker. I have no idea what type of timber it is.

[BobL]

I reckon the darkened stripes are just dirt or dirty sawdust caught between the fibres of the DC cut, and as ozka says high spots sanded off.

The easiest way to get the scarring is to purchase rough sawn wood because you have to work hard to create such an even scarred finish on an already dressed piece of wood.

You could try ripping a few mm off a face with a BS with a couple of the teeth set a bit more than usual.

Another way that requires "great care" would be to make the table from dressed timber and the get a chainsaw with a long bar and chisel toothed chain and run it back and forth with the bar laying flat on its side. It would still be hard to get complete coverage.

If you want a real contrast you could use the old steel wool in finger trick to turn the whole thing black and then sand back the high spots?

[ian]

I found this table in an imports shop. I have no idea what the timber is, but I absolutely love the finish.
410208
Any ideas on 1. How to artificially replicate the scarring and 2. How to obtain the colours? In particular, I want to figure out how to get that dark, almost black look in the scarring and the dull caramel in the smooth parts.

I reckon its just the saw scars. Rough sawn on a bandsaw mill. Minimal sanding to smooth out the high spots that will take a stain properly. The rougher deep saw marks will suck in the stain going much darker. I have no idea what type of timber it is.
I agree.
what you are seeing as a "finish" is very rough sawn timber. and people pay good money for an item constructed from unfinished timber?

To replicate the scaring you would need to purchase thicker than normal wood (say 50 mm thick to end up with a 35-40 mm thick top) and run the show face through a poorly adjusted band saw to take off a thin slice and leave the "scars". Then a light sand to flatten some of the high spots.
Most band saw owners would try and set up and adjust their band saw to avoid leaving such obvious saw tracks.

Colour matching is a bit harder, as the final combination of almost black and dull caramel is most likely a combination of a stain and sanding back to remove the natural timber colour to show somewhat. My initial guess is that the sanding may have been done with a sanding disk mounted in an angle grinder -- a very dusty operation that is not recommended.


but before we go too far
welcome to the forums. I hope you find the help you're looking for and please acknowledge responses.

[tommy.p135]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

I forgot to mention the timber that I am working with is pine. Its reclaimed heat treated tongue-and-groove boards from a reclaimed shipping crate (for a paper-machine roll - very long boards). All up it has been pretty well dressed (fairly glossy already), but the stringers have left a tonne of nail holes, so maybe they could be a cool feature.

I'm wanting to build a dining table out of it. From a bit of light reading I'm considering shellac-ing the surface for hardening, filling the holes with a clear polymer, then oiling and finishing with a furniture wax.

Any thoughts on whether this would match up the slightest-gloss finish given to the subject table?

Cheers,
Tom

[Arron]

In case you are interested, i think the timber is rubberwood. It's probably the most common timber coming out of SE Asia as finished product now. Often crudely stained.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Do you have some photos of the reclaimed pallet pine that you are planning to use? It may behave differently to the ?rubberwood table above. What surface does it have - is it rough bandsawn like your example or just rough sawn? How important to your desired result are the crude bandsaw marks on our example?

Your proposed finish sounds an odd mix to me. Shellac seals the pores of the timber (I love shellac finished btw). But, oil finishes depend upon being absorbed into the pores of the timber to work. Clear polymer will certainly fill the holes (as would a thixotropic epoxy like Epox-E-Glue) but will not absorb oil for an oil finish. Furniture wax is good as long as it isn't beeswax as that just stays sticky and attracts dust and dirt.

So, I would suggest that you stick with one line - either stain, fill, shellac and wax - good. Or, stain, fill, oil (like Danish oil, Rustins brand is good) and wax - good (though I do not know how the oil will work over your filler).

Good luck.

David