Large oak board

[Lm20]

Hi Lm where are you in the south east my workshop is in shaftesbury dorset you are welcome to come over if you need a space to work in ,I would sand with 60,120 then 240 grit then wax polish ,hope this helps a bit ,

Cheers Mark

 

Hi mark, thanks for the offer I'm living 5 mins from gatwick so quite a way from you, I was thinking a wax as i don't want to change/loose the colour or the wood with the sanding is it in stages 60-120 then onto 240?

Thanks again mate.

[Woodworks]

Hi there, I've just purchased myself a English oak board 2" thick 19-20" wide and around 14ft long its been aired dried for around 5 years and was at the bottom of the stack but had got a little wet as water has run off the tin onto it in places, my question is can I start working on it now as I want to make myself a tv table with it that with live indoors, it's a straight edge.

Thanks

 

The surface water has probably not made a great deal of difference to the overall dryness of the board but I would not start working it yet.

 

If I have the time this is how I like to deal with converting boards to furniture. Ideally the workshops RH should be close to the domestic environment.

 

1. Bring whole boards into workshop and leave for as long as possible with air able to circulate all around

 

2. Rough cut out components oversize and plane close to final thickness.

 

3. Leave components in stick for at least a week and again longer if possible. In stick is thin battens of which mine are 20mmx20mm placed between each board.

 

4. Finally cut and plane to final sizes.

 

This is still not really the end of it as wood will continue to expand and shrink across it's width for ever with changing RH. The design needs to take into account this movement and there are many ways to do this.

 

This all in the ideal world with lots of time but realise it don't always work like that

[gobbypunk]

Hi Lm yes go up in grades of sanding the bigger the number the finer the sanding paper as for wax ploish I would go for clear briwax or natural bees wax ,good luck with your project

Cheers Mark

[agg221]

I would echo Big J's comment about bringing it into the house. It's quite a board so I can imagine finding somewhere to put it might be tricky, in which case I would rough cut the components and bring them in - behind the sofa is where I went for. Stacked up for a month or so will do a lot of good.

 

Alec

[Big Beech]

Hi pal thanks for your help its a real nice piece I've not made anything before so any tips you have would be good, like sanding finish product with a wax... It has some great silver grain on it.

 

Once you sand you will probably loose the silvering. Wax is, in my view annoying as it attracts dust and sticks easily. I would prob use a Danish oil gives a similar matt finish

[Lm20]

Once you sand you will probably loose the silvering. Wax is, in my view annoying as it attracts dust and sticks easily. I would prob use a Danish oil gives a similar matt finish

 

Ok thanks big beech, I'll have a look online for that Danish oil.

[Lm20]

One picture

[Lm20]

Second photo

[ucoulddoit]

If you want to be certain that drying distortion/movement won't happen when you put a finished item into a heated home, you really need to check the moisture constant of the timber with a moisture meter. Air dried planks will usually dry down to aout 16% moisture content outside, but 8 to 10% is needed for indoor furniture, even down as far as 6% if the central heating is on a lot. Even if timber is left outside drying for decades, it will still shrink if taken into a heated home.

 

One problem with using a meter is that it measures the moisture content at the surface. Ideally you need to cut off a few inches from the end of a plank to check the 'inside'. But if you do this a few times the plank quickly gets shorter! I usually just err on the safe side and keep planks in the house or workshop where there is a dehumidifier for 6 to 12 months.

 

My Avatar is a hall table made from cherry from a tree that I cut down in a garden in return for the butt (I do this as a hobby by the way!). It also incorporates, lime from a garden of one of my work colleagues, spalted beech from a butt bought from a firewood merchant and cedar of Lebanon sawn off the end of a tree at a country estate which had blown down in a storm. All of which were free hand chainsawn into sections which could be manhandled into the back of an estate car, taken to a woodmiser for milling, followed by air drying outside and 'conditioning' in my workshop for a year or so. The finished hall table has been in our (well) heated house for several years and shows no sign of movement.

 

This is just one of various things made over the years using timber seasoned in this way, so I am a real advocate of air drying outside and conditioning inside. But it does require patience in my experience.

 

Andrew

[Lm20]