Blackwood bar top - ideas and help

G'day all,
Been lurking for years and used heaps of great tips for ironbark coffee table and redgum framing.
Working on a new project and need some tips for beginners. I have aquired some family blackwood which I have cleaned up, pre-thicknessed and then dowelled/glued together to form a single bar top.
Now for the quetions:
A: Is there any thicknessers in the werribee area that could do a couple of passes of 500mm wide x 2.5m long and about 60mm thick? I just want to clean up the top to a completely level surface.
B: The timber has some excellent "character" holes/knots I wish to keep. What is the best filler to keep the character?
C: If and when I get there...best finish for durability, it will literally be used as a bar, so cans, bottles, wines, coffee...who knows
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Bairdy

G'day Bairdy, I can't help with the thicknessing but can with the filling of cracks ,knots etc, I have used fiberglass resin coloured with black ocre/ chalkline powder (you can get it from bunnies), over fill the areas, then sand off to #400 grit, polish it up a bit and it comes up a treat, you can see some examples on my gabian bar thread, I don;t know if this is the proper way to go about the task but it has worked very well for me, it is very durable and waterproof and best of all very easy to do.
Cheers Glenn

Fill the holes with epoxy with coffee grounds in it. Hand plane the top as blackwood planes ok sometimes. You will have to finish with a scraper. I used a water based floor varnish on our blackwood table about ten years ago and it is still good apart from a few dints. Clothe baskets put down on top of car keys. I think it was called Floor Clear. I know of a planner in Boxhill that could handle that size.

Thanks for the help so far....another silly question...is it best to epoxy the holes then thickness/plane or thickness then fill?
Cheers
Bairdy

Hi Pagie, of you could get me the details of the planer that can handle that size it would be appreciated.. still looking out west...but you never know.
Cheers
Bairdy

Hi Bairdy,

Any void bigger than a pencil, I inlay an irregular shaped block. An irregular shape helps blend the patch, we used to call this a " Dutchman".

Make the patch cork shaped( 2-3 deg, top to bottom ) and scribe the bottom of the cork. Rout 12mm deep, close to the line, finish with a scribing gouge.

A drop of glue to hold the patch for scribing. Match the pore direction so the light strikes the patch and ground the same way.

You now have a recess just smaller than the plug. Spread the glue, place a proctive block on the patch and bung it in. Perfect fit every time and almost invisible.

i can thickness 500mm wide if you can be bothered to travel to the yarra valley but i'm sure there's someone closer and yes fill the holes before you put it through the machine

Awesome guys, found a thicknesser in werribee for up to 600mm...so thats great. Going to have a crack at filling this weekend....all going well, I'll send through some images. really appreciating the help

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ball Peen

Hi Bairdy,

Any void bigger than a pencil, I inlay an irregular shaped block. An irregular shape helps blend the patch, we used to call this a " Dutchman".

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We used to keep any offcuts which had live knots in them for exactly this purpose - even more invisible than an irregular shaped block of regular grain:)

Philip

G'day again,
Just about to get into the knot/hole filling portion of the project.
Just curious as to whats best as the filler....I found 2 items at good ol' bunnings
a fibreglass resin that was mentioned earlier...or a product called glass coat....
Are either of these ok, or should i be looking for something better? I think the biggest void is around 20mm dia and 30mm deep. the rest are general knot voids..tapering gaps etc

I use fibreglass resin for filling the holes etc as it is so much cheaper and easier to sand, however I used glasscoat as my final finishing coat as shown in the pics re gabians bar, I mixed black oxide with the fibreglass resin to give it a ebony back finish, so it looks like natural sap lines.

Hi Beardy,

All good advice there on filling holes etc. I use epoxy mixed with artists dry paint colors. I generally find it better to use a contrasting color rather than to try to match the color of the brew to the timber. I also use as much powder color as the epoxy will accept. This makes sanding much easier. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is to mask the perimeter of the defect to be filled with masking tape. This is a great way of reducing the amount of sanding that needs to be done at the end of the day. Also be wary of limiting your sanding of the patch to just that local area or it will be pretty obvious when you apply the finishing polish particular if it is high gloss. I sand the whole piece in the process.

I try to get that right by marking a rough drawn 2 B pencil grid on about a 50mm centre over the whole surface of the job. Once you have sanded off all the pencil marks do it again and again until you have eliminated all the defects you need to then shift to a finer grit and on and non it goes until you get to 320 or even 400. Quite satisfying really I find. Watch out for timber species where the late wood and the early wood have markedly different densities or hardness. With these species you may have to sand across the grain until almost the end of the process or you will end up with a washboard effect as the early wood is removed more rapidly than the late wood.


Cheers Old Pete

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bairdy380

G'day again,
Just about to get into the knot/hole filling portion of the project.
Just curious as to whats best as the filler....I found 2 items at good ol' bunnings
a fibreglass resin that was mentioned earlier...or a product called glass coat....
Are either of these ok, or should i be looking for something better? I think the biggest void is around 20mm dia and 30mm deep. the rest are general knot voids..tapering gaps etc

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If it's not too late, I'd suggest using a clear filler like casting resin. It will give you a water clear finish which lets you see'into' the knot holes. Can't get closer to "retaining the character" than that.

This cabinet has been done that way: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/bl...cabinet-97108/