Monday, August 22, 2011

Testing my limits! Joe's Table!


The Master at work with his faithful dog keeping watch!
I'm not sure how long it took me to get Joe's table apart.  Evidently, the previous owner was the type of person that liked hammering nails into corners of furniture for no apparent reason.  I did finally get all of the pieces disassembled and labeled so that I could start sanding each piece one by one.  When I say that there were a lot of nails, I mean there were a lot of nails, and that makes nail holes.  Holes do not look good in a piece of refinished furniture.  I completed sanding the top part of the table and got it put back together.  I filled the holes with wood filler that can be used for staining, but I am not really sure that I am going to like the way it will look once the stain is applied.  I got to looking into some refinishing videos on YouTube and found someone that was using colored wood putty instead.  I think this may be the best route to follow, so today I purchased some wood putty with matching stain and tonight I will be digging out the wood filler that I applied this weekend.  It will cost me some time on this project, but I want to try and make it as nice as I can.  Here is a shot of the top once I got it put back together.

I see too many wood filled holes for my liking!!
If I can just get half of these nail holes to become invisible with a little putty and staining magic, then this table just might turn out OK.

Stay tuned!

7 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

don't you just love re-doing your own work?! such a fulfilling feeling... :)

Steve said...

Trey,

Have you ever used sawdust and glue to fill holes? My shop teacher told me that, but can't say I've tried it.

Steve

Unknown said...

Steve, That will work just fine if you are planning to paint over the area. My problem is that for refinishing to a natural state or with stain, it will show up as a blemish. I took all of the filler out last night and plan on staining with the holes in the wood. The owner said it did not matter to him.

LB @ Bullets And Biscuits said...

Ready for this crazy idea? I wonder if you can't fill some holes but leave others open and add grooves, marks and cuts....like "worm holes"? Shoot, even add more different sized nail holes throughout the whole piece. Give it a little distressed look so the other nail holes aren't as noticable? Just a little something to draw your eye away from the "straight" row of holes? It might be more "rustic and worn" than he wants but it might work instead of scraping the piece. Good Luck!

Steve said...

Trey,

I have a finishing question for you. I've never done knife handles and I'm wondering how to finish my handle. I'm thinking of many coasts of hand rubbed tung oil. Would you agree?

Unknown said...

Tung oil is great and something that you could try. I would think that several coats would give your wood the finish and protection that you are looking for. If it does not seem strong enough to protect the finish then you could always put a coat of a clear hard finish on top.

Steve said...

Thanks for the info, Trey.

Steve