Thread: Blackwood dining table

I can see the photos, thanks for the update.

Hi guys. Dont know what happened with the photos, but here's an update the old fashioned way, with words . . .

I've sanded back just about all the wood ready for finishing. I bought a feast and weston sanding sealer, and some dewaxed blonde shellac flakes and 100% alcohol from carbo tec in auburn - what an amazing store.

I thinned the shellec right down and used a spray bottle to cover the wood, then sanded back with a 320 grit paper. Then I wiped the sanding sealer on with a cloth, sanded, another coat, and waiting for that to dry. I will need a few coats on the inside oak sides, because I didnt spend much time with the planes flattening these out and the grain is very rough on the oak. The outer sides however I managed to get very smooth, so will only need one or maybe two coats.

The spray bottle works well so far, but will have to wait and see how well it will go once I try and get the high gloss achieved by french polishing. I plan to sand and coat many times, then finish with rottenstone powder mixed with some kind of wax. The goal is an ultra gloss finish on the outside, and a soso gloss on the inside. - I am even thinking of doing a red candy apple translucent coat on the inside oak, just for something funky - might work well with the base - see below . . .

The base I will cover with maroon velvet, just because I have a pile of it lying around. I did try laying some veneer over the plywood base, but that got messy and I gave up.

The lid is glued up, but I need to thin it down and get it the right dimensions, more planing. I have some chestnut burl and walnut veneer for the chessboard I will inlay on the top. Im thinking of making the board on some thin ply, then embedding this into the top. If anyone's got a better idea how to inlay the board, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for following this long slow project.

After getting a bit of shellac down, I tried a bit of rottenstone to see if I could get a gloss up. I mixed the rottenstone in with the shellac, and all I got was lots of grey patches over the wood. I sanded this back with 320 grit and got it smooth like glass. Then I put down more shellac with a pad, taking care to get good even layers. This gave me a fantastic finish, I'll get some photos up next few days, but that's where I'm at. Sanding back and continuing to apply the shellac. So far looking good.

I'm planning to use the rottenstone with some oil or wax as the final touch, so hopefully it wont clog up with the shellac. That was a boo boo, however after a while the grey patches seemed to disappear - might have been my imagination though.

I'm spending a bit of time getting it right, so the final thing has that gloss mirror like finish to it. Not sure how close I'll get, but from what I've seen so far, it should be pretty nice . . .

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As it's a toy box for a baby, i am going to make a cloth lid / cover, putting the actual lid on in many years time.

Here is is, with the shellac finish. What do you think?

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Very well done.

Unusual looking dining table! Very nice finish though

Originally Posted by Astrodog

Unusual looking dining table! Very nice finish though

He digressed into something else.

the box was a kind of test for me, before i start on the table, which will happen over the next few months

ill post up some thoughts on the box process soon, thanks for following the project guys, your support has been awesome