Gnarly timber

[Richard S]

Hi All

I'm looking for some really gnarly old timber, preferably hardwood rather than pine. Its for a farmhouse type table top and the idea is it should look really old and worn, like its been around for a couple of hundred years already with dings, scratches, worm holes etc. I know a certain amount of this can and will be faked. I had thought about old scaffold boards but I don't know if these are usually hardwood or not nor even where you can buy them.

Any ideas?

Richard

 

[Bodrighy]

Are there any restoration or recycling places near you? They may well have old floorboards or scaffolding planks. Both are usually pine mind.

Pete

 

[Anonymous]

All of the scaffolding boards I have come across (not a huge number) have been hard wood (mainly Ash) and so you may be in luck with them

 

[PowerTool]

Most scaffolding firms will have old half-boards (6 to 8 feet in length) that they would probably let you have cheap (if not free).
I got a load recently - think they are all softwood,about 1.5" thick,but do have a tendency to be a little cupped.
Should still do nicely for what you have in mind,though.

Andrew

 

[sawdust maker]

I have used scaffolding boards to make a garden table, they were soft wood and worked well. The ones I used were newish, I would be very careful as old ones ar likely to have sand cement etc impregnated into the surface that plays havock with any machinery or planes.

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

I'm looking for some really gnarly old timber, preferably hardwood rather than pine. Its for a farmhouse type table top and the idea is it should look really old and worn, like its been around for a couple of hundred years already with dings, scratches, worm holes etc.

There are two ways you can approach this. Sounds like you want to start with distressed timber and attempt to make something decent from it. I think I would be inclined to go for decent timber, make the table, then distress it. I just think it would be easier that way around.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[ByronBlack]

a reclamation yard would probably be your best bet - they often stock up on old beams, sleepers, doors etc.. and old beat-up door could easily be broken down into a table top.

otherwise if you're not in a rush for it, buy a bit of timber the size you want, leave it outside for a few months, throw darts at it, let mushrooms grow on it, whack it a with a small axe or billhook and smack it regularly with chains, then stain it up and finish it.. should have a nice distressed top.

 

[CHJ]

Richard, if you are after making something that will be around for a while and give that time served quality I think I would trawl the timber yards for a billet of old Elm, the sort that they may class as seconds from having been lying around for a while due to poor conversion factor.

Not difficult to get that random surface look with old Elm, it seems to come naturally every time I try to finish it.

 

[Richard S]

Many thanks guys, there's some interesting points there, I think I have decided to go for good timber and will apply a faux distressed finish.

I'm fairly confident of my ability to do the construction but finishing in general seems to be a bit of a black art, so far I have restricted my finishing to either oil and wax or paint (sorry but it suits the style of our house ). Any Ideas how to achieve an old aged look, I want the timber to be dark, a sort of walnut colour rather than a jacobean oak type of colour. I've read that poplar takes a stain well and is reasonably cheap would this be a good timber to use.

I also like the sound of the elm seconds as that may be a little cheaper, on the subject of the elm, "Billet" is not a term I am familiar with what does it refer to? also while I'm on the subject of terminology, what is the difference between a plank and a board?

Sorry to be such a complete ignoramus.

Many thanks to all who have taken the time to reply it is very much appreciated.

Richard

 

[CHJ]

...on the subject of the elm, "Billet" is not a term I am familiar with what does it refer to? ...
Richard

Sorry thats my engineering background showing through, I meant thick (50mm+) slab 'through and through' stock such as THIS


EDIT:
Richard, as you are in Northamptonshire I would recommend a visit to Good Timber and have a browse around their store sheds. They may just have something destined to be off loaded next sale day that you can talk them out off at the right price.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Any Ideas how to achieve an old aged look,

I think it depends on exactly what type of effect you want to produce. Distressing furniture has got itself a bad name over the years and that, I think, stems from the sort of "distressed" furniture that they sell in shops these days. It's usually very badly made and looks as though it's about to fall apart. That's quite different from a piece of furniture that has achieved a warm, tactile look and feel from years of use and general wear and tear.

A lot of old farm-house furniture was very well made and has achieved its look from many years of use, both for dining and food preparation. The edges of table tops will have become worn and rounded and polished from years of people resting their arms on them. Under rails will similarly have become worn from people resting their feet on them.

Distressing should be about re-creating that honest wear and tear rather than what some makers do, which is bashing the daylights out of the piece with chains and bags of nails :shock:

Try to look at some old, well-made and well-used furniture and you will see what I mean. As well as farm houses, look at the refectory tables in the dining halls of colleges.

With regard to the finishing, keep plenty of the wood to experiment on. If you want to colour it at all, I would go for water-based stains. You can lighten and generally fiddle about with these with a damp rag, whereas other types once they are applied you are stuck with it.

Good luck.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[CHJ]

... I've read that poplar takes a stain well and is reasonably cheap would this be a good timber to use.
....

I would expect Poplar to be rather on the soft side, almost diametrically opposite Elm in robustness.

Poplar finished and stained to look worn may soon show dings and dents through to the pale underwood if the table is to get rustic usage I would have thought.

All our old 'rustic' farmhouse furniture was Elm or Oak on wear surfaces with softwood infills, the only softwood table top was one regularly scrubbed with hot soapy water and scraped every few years to remove the hollows.

Just my thoughts on wood types, other peoples experience may differ considerably.

 

[Anonymous]

Might be worth contacting Mike Cawthorne here:

http://www.mikecawthornetimber.co.uk/

 

[jasonB]

As Chas says I would stay away from poplar, its a bit soft and open grained, maybe a few slabs of air dried oak or chestnut. There are several mills that will resaw old beams into boards, that way you will get nice old growth timber.

As for colouring I quite like Vandyke Crystals, they are mixed with water to get the strength required and being made from walnut shells will give a walnut colour.

A power wirebrush and heavy use of a randon orbit sander in all arrises will soon knock the newness away.

JAson