Thread: Coffee table for a client with a shoe fetish!!

Cyclone proof coffee table.

Cliff

You are not far wrong! lol! The spotted gum is BUUURLY!!!!!!!!!!!! I would hate to be one of his guests who crack the shin on the edge one night after a few shaardy's!

Any ideas on what to use as a finish for the top?

I like the idea of making the coffee table to suite a need. The thing that comes to my mind is good thing you did not have to make a coffee table to suit the former first lady of the Philippines when Marcos was president.

I take it she had a major shoe fetish!!!!? Dang that's a lot of shoes!!

Anyone have advice on what to finish the base and tassie Blackwood top with??

Hi Milo, very chunky table, previous comments made me laugh. I'm certainly no expert but I made a blackwood thing recently and I finished with a few coats of shellac, light sand with 400 grit, and finish with Ubeaut traditional wax. Came up absolutely beautiful and people often comment how nice it looks and feels. I use Neil's "A Polisher's Handbook" as a guide.

Peter

Hi Peter

Shellac hey! mmm never used the stuff.....is it easy to use/apply? might have to get that book.

I pretty much have stuck to Danish Oil and the Ubeut traditional wax but was looking at stepping it up for this table.

DO can go mouldy in the tropics, I'd be tempted to try some of the newer water based floor sealers.

Have a look at the stuff that Intergrain make.
Intergrain - Interior Flooring Preparation

I am not near my shed to check the exact brand/name on the bottle but I bought some last year & put it through my CIGWeLD easyspay gun.
I used it to seal some wooden sculpture that I was worried may go mouldy.

Not sure if I can link to this picture but I will try.

Originally Posted by Milo

Hi Peter

Shellac hey! mmm never used the stuff.....is it easy to use/apply? might have to get that book.

I pretty much have stuck to Danish Oil and the Ubeut traditional wax but was looking at stepping it up for this table.

Yes shellac is easy to use and apply, I love the stuff. I've also done danish oil + wax (on jarrah) and that looks great too. I know a lot of blokes like Feast Watson floorseal for table tops etc as it's hard wearing. Another finish I have seen, which looked very nice on red cedar, is Livos oil. I'm keen to try this but it is a bit pricey.

Doing some more research and I was told about using a poly varnish/turps mix with a French Polish method and build up a few layers.

Anyone use this technique before?

thanks for all the advice so far!!! much appreciate it!

It works too, takes a bit longer to dry.

Get a sample bit of wood & try a few different methods & see what the results are.

Will do Cliff

thanks for the advice! Will give it a go!

Hi Milo, love the chunky style of the coffee table!

As for finishes, I recently finished a buffet which was made of lightwood. This is another speicies of Acacia very similar to the blackwood you are using for the top.

Because I had the same desire for a hard wearing surface I ended up finishing mine with Minwax Wipe-on poly (satin). This stuff is ridiculously easy to apply and comes up with a lovely clean result.
I sanded the timber down to 240 then lightly sanded at 400 between coats with 3 coats in total. It probably could have used another coat or two for a slightly smoother finish but I'm happy with the result.....

Here's a link to the finished product in my build thread so you can see how it came out.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f187/w...0/#post1645741

Only down side of using the poly is that you have make sure nothing really hot gets placed on the surface of the finish could go cloudy......

Update

I have sanded the top to 240 so far I have now turned my attention to the box that will hold the sneakers. I mocked one up in half inch mdf and after cutting a rebate the box popped in no problems. I will use brads to hold the box together so you won’t see ugly screws. Saying that though I don't think I went deep enough with the rebate (only 6mm) where I think it should be 10mm deep so I will do a few more passes with the router. I set the box to approx 150mm depth it will look ok once the glass is set into the table but honestly standing back it’s not my taste!!! but...you godda do what the client wants not what you want! [IMG]file:///C:/Users/bwilkin/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]

I intend to make the real box out of half inch ply and spray it matt black or a more neutral colour line the inside with a velure or leave it bare? Thoughts?

Also what type of glass will I order - plate/safety glass??? And how thick? Update: I just called the glass shop and they said that 6mm toughened saftey glass will do the job! I was super surprised as I thought I would need at least 10mm!!! Nup, apparently you could drop a bottle from standing height and it would bounce off!!! come to think of it, its the same stuff they use in your car windows and thats only 4mm.

The rebate on the top is a half inch wide so there is enough support. I still intend to make a shallow tray as another option to the glass so that he could actually use the shallow tray to be used for candles, tea/coffee set, plates for a casual sit down dinner etc....I think this will look faaaaar better than a glass.box combo but as I said...that’s what he wanted.

I have decided to give this Shellac a go! I purchased some "Hard Shellac" from U-Beut and the gentleman from U-Buet was kind enough to talk me through the steps to take. He also gave me the option of brushing the stuff on with a really high quality camel hair brush but I think I will go the French Polish route and will test it on a offcut. Wish me luck!

couple of pics from the weekend...

1011065_478463125568365_136841097_n.jpg196619_478463288901682_1088541160_n.jpg1005118_478463415568336_740983965_n.jpg

There is a gentleman at U-Beaut?