help with finish on heart pine

[jacjed]

Can anyone give me some help on finishing some 100 year old heart pine. I have built a dining table, the lumber still has the nail holes and some knot holes, which I wanted to leave because I like the rustic look. I put some blo on to bring out the grain, now I don't know whether to go with a poly or a wax, this heart pine has a very tight grain. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, jacjed

[phi1l]

Here's some responses to this question from another forum:

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2565

[Uncle Cracker]

I like poly for this. It's pretty durable, and can be patched pretty well if dinged up. I usually use a wipe-on type, and thin it out just a little. Two coats, lightly sanded in between, should do the trick.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

jacjed:

I agree with the responses re poly in the link that phi1l posted.

I used poly on the top of this counter height table built with 100+ year old pine rafters removed from our house during a renovation. I built up the film with multiple layers of 50-50 or 60-40 mix of poly and mineral spirits. After the surface was sealed with a few coats, I leveled succeeding layers between coats with a single edge razor blade held like a card scraper. I used a hard rubber sanding block with wet-dry 400g then 600g paper lubed with MS for the final few coats. I wipe with Johnson's paste wax occasionally. Actually, the top is not as shiny as shown in the pic.

I finished both sides of the top ... top and underside.

I used fruitwood and natural Watco (no poly) on the vertical grain heart pine aprons and drawers, and on the maple legs dyed to match the pine because they didn't need the protection of poly.





The top of my table had nail holes and knots. I filled them with epoxy that I tinted black. It retained the character, but made a more usable surface.

I have seen recommendations on other forums to use "regular" varnish instead of poly. Those posts suggested that poly is more difficult to repair. I dunno.

There are a number of companies producing furniture built from reclaimed wood. They use a wax finish on the pieces. It looks and feels nice. But I doubt that wax would hold up to dining use.

By the way, you will be amazed how much the wood will mellow, darken, and become more red with exposure to light. The photos were taken three years ago. The aprons are now the same color as the top. You will like the looks of your table more each year. Heart pine is wonderful.

Good luck with your project.

- Lonnie