Don’t Judge Wood By Its Patina
Just like the quote about not judging a book by its cover, the same adage can be applied to some old, weathered wood. The bright, clean wood grains of a bygone era are still there, hidden under a protective cover that can be decades or hundreds of years of age. The beauty of it is, the wood is giving us the option to repurpose it as it appears, or remove the weathered mask of time, and let us see it as it appeared when the wood was first timbered.
Ready to be restored!
This past year I was privileged to work on a project that involved wood that was the flooring for a barn, which was built in the late 1700’s. To see the craftsmanship and hand hewn logs is a thing of beauty. The wood for the flooring was timbered and cut to size in the early 1800’s, when the flooring was added. The first thing I noticed were the vertical kerf marks (from a saw) on one side of the wood, which meant it was ripped to its current thickness using a Pit Saw.
A Pit Saw was how wood was slabbed over a pit, with one person above and one person in the pit under the log, operating a two man saw. I’m pretty sure the “new guy” had the job of being in the pit below, getting covered in sawdust. The opposite side of each plank was dirty, had old manure ground into it, and certain areas showed signs of water damage. The side with the kerf marks was clearly the side facing down and had been protected and preserved. The other side had been worn down with years of wear from farmers and livestock walking on it, and the sections with water damage were most likely near the entrance of the barn, and bore the brunt of the elements. I had no idea what type of wood it was, due to its heavy weight, tight growth rings and color. The local lumberyard that I use, Klutzz Lumber in Concord, took a look at it and said it was “old growth heart pine” and was at least 150 years old. I gave them the backstory and they said the timeframe fit with what they were looking at.
The barn itself was originally built in Iredell County and then disassembled and reconstructed in Catawba County when the family moved. When relocated to Catawba, the flooring was stacked along a wall and never used again. Also, the family built a larger structure to protect the old barn, to include a new tin roof. The flooring stayed there stacked, providing a home for a few spiders and the occasional mouse nest. It had a quiet existence there, until the property was sold and new owners moved in to the farmhouse.
The new owners have a strong belief in preserving history and honoring the land to keep it healthy and vibrant. Initially, I saw pictures in emails, and then saw all of this firsthand and I undertook a couple of projects for the landowners. In addition to that, they gave me a 6’ and 3’ section of the flooring, that had been cut from the much longer planks. I immediately knew one thing I wanted to make, and have yet to make it, but it is next on my list, and it will come from the 3’ section.
After looking at the 6’ section every time I walked in or out of the garage, the proverbial little light went on and I said, “End table!” The wife and I had been talking about one for awhile. We then worked out the logistics of dimensions and what to use for the legs. So, enough of the backstory on the history of the material, and now the works begins.
The first step when I brought it home was to power wash it to remove the grime. When the color started to show, I first thought it was red oak or red elm. The next step was to remove some of the old nails that remained in it. Nothing worse than hitting a nail with a saw blade, or running a piece of wood through a planer with a pin nail in it and you chip the planer blades (ask me how I know about that one).
I need more clamps!!
The board dimensions were 13.5” wide and 1.5” thick. I first cross cut the 6’ section into two 3’ sections. Due to the water damage along the edge, I opted to remove 2.5” of the edges and used the 8” middle of the plank for my material. The next step was to rip the 8” piece into two 4” pieces. I now had 4 pieces of stock, 4” wide X 3” long. The 2.5” strips will be made into picture frames.
Then, I took them to Klutzz Lumber to have them plane the thickness down to about 1” to help reduce weight and clean up both sides. Back at the house, I sanded them first, and then used a Biscuit Joiner to cut slots in the sides to insert wood biscuits to aid and strengthen the gluing up of the 4 sections. Due to the colder temps, I gave the stock 48 hours to cure.
Glued up and ready for staining!
After that, a lot more sanding, down to 800 grit, to get is as smooth as possible. Now, the fun part, torching the wood to make the grain “pop”. I used a handheld propane torch to burn the sides, ends and edges. For the larger surface area, I fired up the wand attached to a 20 gallon propane tank, aka the flamethrower, and lit it up. It’s definitely therapeutic to hear the roar of the torch.
Torched to make the wood grain pop!
Finally, a coat of clear polycrylic gloss and another 48 hours for it to dry. A light sanding with the 800 grit, and a second coat of the polycrylic, followed by more dry time. At this point the table was complete and while it was drying, I decided to assemble the legs that The Wifey had ordered.
First coat of clear polycyclic gloss.
This was the hardest part. Some things just escape me, and assembling things like table legs is one of them. When I say “table legs”, I mean she had ordered that industrial looking style, which was sections of threaded pipe. Twenty-seven total pieces of varying length of threaded pipe, T sections and flanges. I have it all laid out, staring at it and looking at the one page of instructions, with pictures, and things were going very slow. Jennie walks into the room and asked me how’s it going. I reply that I feel like I’m staring at 5,000 pieces of Legos. With her usual immediate grasp of these things, she told me what to do…I mean assisted me in getting the legs assembled, accompanied by her guidance.
The deeper sections of damaged wood were filled with clear epoxy.
Finally, I attached the leg system on to the table and it is now in our living room at a comfy 72 degrees. It took this piece of wood 200+ years to finally feel the inside warmth of a home. My hope is that this old growth, heart pine end table will feel that same warmth for another 200 years in a room of one of my children, and then grandchild and the generation after that. It’s truly an honor to be entrusted with such a rare piece of of history, and my hope is that I did in fact, honor this old piece of pine in a way befitting its past.
Finished project…check out those legs!!