Thread: Finishing of table top

Oil offers very little protection to your table top and it needs constant maintenance.

This is what will happen. When you finish you will have a beautiful table. You will be too scared to put marks on it. To prevent that from happening, you will put a coaster under every hot cup, every dinner plate, every bowl and every glass. OR you will put a tablecloth to cover the whole table.

Sorry I have seen many beautiful tables end up like that.

In my opinion I will use poly. Minmax Satin wipe-on poly is always my first choice.

Once again, it is just my opinion. Good luck.

5-8 coats of Bri-Wax danish oil has worked for me, on kitchen benches. Bear in mind that this is really a wipe-on poly, so Wongo is on to it. I took my fully prepared (about 8 coats of shellac) table top to a furniture shop and had it laquered. I have never worried about hot cups or dings, and it still looks good after 9 yrs.

Thanks for the replies regarding the finish. The next question is how do you find is the best way of attaching the top to a solid wooden frame.I have been told to not directly screw it to the frame.

use buttons

Buttons as above but you will need to rout the slots or use figure 8 clips. Can be used by drillling very slightly into the top of the apron then screw down one side into apron and the other into the table top.

Both ways will allow the table to move with seasonal changes.

If the frame doesn't already have a rebate to accept the buttons there's another option that will work. I have used small L brackets under a table to hold the top down. The brackets need to have over-sized holes (lengthened holes/slots is best). You can screw the brackets tightly into the frame using pan head screws and then slightly loosely into the underside of the table top, again using pan head screws. The idea is that with seasonal changes in humidity the table top should be able expand and contract slightly without stressing the frame.

Originally Posted by Wongo

use buttons

Another job for the Herr Doktor Domi - makes a nice neat mortice slot in the rail and an elongated one for the screw to accommodate movement

(Sorry, but in the abscence of Lignum (where is he, BTW?), someone has to sing the praises of Domi )

Steve,

Domi is overated. A biscuit joiner, a good biscuit joiner but a biscuit joiner.

Any product that ties me into paying x $$$ for the things that it uses and which the company have a monopoly on always turns me off straight away. Everyone is trying to do it these days - just look at those new fangled home coffee machines where you shell out $$$ to buy the machine only to be tied into mail ordering their coffee replacement 'pods' because regular coffee wont go in the machine.

Now if I had to use a biscuit joiner everyday I might reassess my opinion but I don't and can't justify the coin

To a certain extent that is what turned me off Triton gear when starting out also. Anyway sorry for the completely unrelated rant and threadjack.

For the table I wouldn't be inclined to use oil as the final finish but something like say oil first to bring out the grain - let it dry sand back and then a hard curing finish would be the go.