Finished without finish :eek:

Well, I just finished reading the trilogy of books by James Krenov, and was absolutely awestruck by a comment that he only sometimes mentioned in passing. Sometimes he leaves his work completely without finish. :eek: now I'm sure you gents have been doing this for ages, but somewhere along the line my simple mind got the idea that "you gotta' put somethin' on". my most recent project was finish planed with a HNT Gordon smother, then I put one light coat of paste wax (i had to put somethin' on right? :o ) anyway, I am in love with the idea now. the wood is not discolored, you can feel the grain, and any scratches/dings just get planed out. now ofcourse you would never do this with a table top or on anything that gets wet regularly, and the wood needs to be dried to the almost exact moisture content that it will live in, and you have to design for serious wood movement. I'll certainly do this more often in the future. anyway, it was an ephiphany for this simple guy so I thought I'd share. :o
-Ryan

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Originally Posted by ryanarcher

I'll certainly do this more often in the future. anyway, it was an ephiphany for this simple guy so I thought I'd share. :o
-Ryan

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Dang. I thought the last four days were for Easter? :confused:


Cheers

5T

A lapsed Catholic who is only kidding ;)

When I read about ancient tables in quaint English kitchens being "scrubbed", I assume it means scrubbed clean, and not a reference to some obscure ww technique. That said, a kitchen table is on my to do list and a scrubbable finish appeals to me.

So what are old rural kitchen tables finished with? Linseed oil or similar? Nothin' at all, as per your epiphany, Ryan? I assume old tables are held together with hide glue, perhaps water isn't always the enemy...

Regards,
Rus.

The monster pine table in my grandmothers kitchen was raw kauri pine. Once a week it was scrubbed down using a big sandsoap block, most other days it was just given a wipe down with the dishwashing water. The dishes were done on the table in a big tin tub that was filled with hot water from the one fire stove and anything that spilled onto the table from the washing up was used to wipe it down. We sat on forms (long wooden benches) which were also raw timber and treated the same way.

On the other hand, the good table and chairs in the dining room was highly French polished and lovingly cared for, as was most of the other furniture in the house.

In my opinion it is fine to leave certain items raw but only if the recipient of that product knows how to (and is prepared to) treat it correctly by giving it the regular maintenance and care it deserves. Most people of today have no idea what is involved in the correct care and maintenance of either fine or rustic furniture and aren't interested in anything other than a quick spray with MR Sheen :eek: once every blue moon. Especially it seems, if they are Anglo Australian baby boomers and younger with the use it, abuse it and replace it mentality.

Often the only finish on old tables was what was spilt during the every day use, chicken fat, lard from cooking, butter even the sweat from the hands and forearms, soot and smoke from the open fires etc etc all added to the patina of the table. I have seen some beautiful tables that have had nothing but this type of finish on them for a few hundred years, with maybe a bit of beeswax later in life. The look is fantastic. But in all honesty, it is basically nothing more than a nice looking sewer.

Rant off.......

Cheers - Neil :)

Would the unfinished timber eventually develop the grey / oxidized look of weathered timber? Or does this graying only happen to timber exposed to rain and sun?

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it is basically nothing more than a nice looking sewer.

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Sounds like it'd fit right in at my place!:D

Regards,
Rus.

Only ever seen the old sewer type stuff on oak and it gets a deep blacky brown almost tar look to it with an underlying golden hue.

The pine stuff like grannies table stays like new because of the action of the sandsoap, it is basically being sanded back all the time, I don't recall ever seeing any greying or other marks for that matter other than a couple of burn marks where the iron was left sitting for too long, but these too faded and disappeared over the years.