Finish on NG Rosewood, Jarrah & Tas Oak table top

[deldridg]

Hi all,

I'm just competing a table for my little boy having just completed 2 chairs from NG Rosewood. The table is also from NGR but I've just competed a checkerboard top from Jarrah and Tas Oak to be set in the NGR top.

Having just now sanded the checkerboard (Jarrah and Tas Oak) I'm keen not to botch up all that hard work with the wrong approach. I was planning to burnish (Orgainoil Burnshing Oil), let dry for a few weeks and then use Organoil Wax on the top.

The chairs weren't burnished but were finished with 2 coats of the Organoil Burnishing Oil and would like to maintain the same look, at least colour-wise on the table. However, the table top will require a more hardy surface, hence my thoughts of waxing over the top.

Should I consider shellac over the top instead of oil? What to do - it's confusing to a novice like me! Also, should I perhaps use a sanding sealer on the checkerboard? Will that affect the oil finish I'm planning? Sooo many questions - apologies for that!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated - I've worked pretty hard to get the project this far!

Cheers and thanks for your time,
David

PS. Attached is a pic the completed chairs (you can roll a marble down the back of them) and the partially completed table. William is pictured on his 1st birthday, happily rubbing chocolate into the freshly sanded table top while daddy (yours truly) is trying to simultaneously take the photo and manage a myocardial infarction...

[deldridg]

Quick follow-up for what it's worth.

I have done some reading/thinking on the sanding sealer and will do without. Hopefully if I get the burnishing procedure right any pores/fine cracks should be dealt with appropriately.

In any case, if I do end up lucking it with too good a finish - I'll be too precious about the abuse it will likely receive at the hands of my 1 yr old!

Cheers,
David

[AlexS]

With the chess board, clean it carefully with metho first, to make sure you don't have any spots of Tas Oak in the grain of the jarrah or vice versa. Then, use a coat of thin shellac as a sanding sealer. Give the whole thing a light sand all over, and clean off with white spirits. The shellac will prevent the sanding dust getting into the pores of the wood. Then finish with the oil of your choice.

[deldridg]

Hello Alex,

you are generous with your advice and many thanks! I like the idea of using shellac as a pore filler - something didn't feel quite right with the notion of a sanding sealer before oil.

There are 2 elements to this table requiring finishing - the table top in NG Rosewood (with 18" square cutout in the centre) and the 18" chess table insert (Jarrah and Tas Oak).

I confess that this afternoon I got decidedly over-exuberant and have now burnished the chess board using just Organoil Burnishing Oil, 400 grain and then 1500 grain to burnish. Fabulously smooth and I'm very excited about the result (at this early stage...). However, predictably there was some reddening of the Tas Oak during the process - only slightly so but noticeable - to me at least.

As for the tabletop, I will follow your advice and look into purchasing some Shellac to do a preliminary pore fill. Fingers crossed the result will be worthy of a follow up post with a few pics!

Many thanks for your time and cheers!
David E (Sydney)

[ian]

David
of course the top will be worthy of a followup post
It already looks the goods.

Based on my son's use of his "making table" can I suggest you make a second insert using ply faced with white laminate -- that way you wont need to cry because his crayons, squeekers and paint have spoiled the chess board top. Save that one till he's old enough to want to play chess or draughts

[Clinton1]

... chair backs...

you can roll a marble down the back of them

That is a great idea and is going to get hours of use. I'll stick that in the ideas book and hope to use it myself.

[deldridg]

Hi Ian - thanks for the compliment! Sadly for me, any reasonable result requires a *lot* of time - something not lost on my lovely wife. ) I'm certainly going to make the 2nd insert and was considering making a chalk board, though your idea of a laminate top is going to be a lot less messy I think. Will have to keep marker pens away - there is still a lot of NGR tabletop to mess up... *gulp*

As for the marble chair Clinton - I can't take the credit for this one. Comes from a wonderful book by Jeff Miller - "Furniture Projects for Children". A challenge I set myself for this was to work in imperial measures, hence the "inches" in the initial post! I'll try to get a few pics up during the day. As for the marbles - perhaps they'll have to wait until little William is less likely to put them in the mouth - could be many years I fear! )

Cheers,
David

[ian]

Hi Ian - thanks for the compliment! Sadly for me, any reasonable result requires a *lot* of time - something not lost on my lovely wife. ) I'm certainly going to make the 2nd insert and was considering making a chalk board, though your idea of a laminate top is going to be a lot less messy I think. Will have to keep marker pens away - there is still a lot of NGR tabletop to mess up... *gulp*

don't look at it that way ...
make the "insert" a few mm bigger than the whole table top -- that way the NG Rosewood will be protected
get the piece of ply cut to the correct size where you buy it, laminate one surface, route a roundover edge, then turn everything upside down on top of the "insert" and attach the insert using batterns inside the opening (and cleats if desired to stop it being removed)

[proberts]

very nice table why not make the insert so you can flip it over? chalk board one side chess board on th other.

[Ruddy]

This is a great project. I think it has to go on the To Do list.
I admire your work. Thanks for posting.