kitchen worktop wood for garden furniture

[wallace]

When you said worktop, I hope you didn't mean one of those that are made up of lots of little bits all glued togather. I had a spare bit a few years ago and made a top for one of those cast pub tables it was left outside and did not last long before all the little blocks had fallen appart. One good thing is it made lots a pen blanks for the lathe
Mark

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

This is interesting, Richard and I am sure you are right. However, whatever the fungus I was talking about, and I might have called it the wrong name, is very easy to infect the wood out doors. I have been spalting my own beech this way for years. Whatever I am referring to is found inleaf mould and general decaying garden matter, twigs, roots etc. and will blow around. Covering the table with a tarp, will actually help the fungus along. I use bin liners.

Mike.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Hello, This is interesting, Richard and I am sure you are right. However, whatever the fungus I was talking about, and I might have called it the wrong name, is very easy to infect the wood out doors. Mike.

The problem is Mike that in 2001 it was reckoned there might be something like 13 million different fungi, and yet only ten years earlier in 1991 David Hawksworth, a mycologist at Kew Gardens estimated the world’s fungal diversity at 1.5 million species which was thought at the time to be a radical overestimate. I haven't checked recently to see how much larger the estimates have grown to.

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of different fungi that might be involved in what might seem to be just the simple decay of vegetable matter and the like, and no doubt many of those fungi look somewhat similar, and different fungi will produce comparable decaying and decayed end products, etc. Slainte.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello, This is interesting, Richard and I am sure you are right. However, whatever the fungus I was talking about, and I might have called it the wrong name, is very easy to infect the wood out doors. Mike.

The problem is Mike that in 2001 it was reckoned there might be something like 13 million different fungi, and yet only ten years earlier in 1991 David Hawksworth, a mycologist at Kew Gardens estimated the world’s fungal diversity at 1.5 million species which was thought at the time to be a radical overestimate. I haven't checked recently to see how much larger the estimates have grown to.

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of different fungi that might be involved in what might seem to be just the simple decay of vegetable matter and the like, and no doubt many of those fungi look somewhat similar, and different fungi will produce comparable decaying and decayed end products, etc. Slainte.

Wow, this is a whole new area, which I know little about, but is fascinating all the same. This is the marvellous thing about wood work. there are so many fields which overlap: art, design, architecture, structural engineering, design history, coatings technology....

One thing for sure, beech is not going to fare well, out doors!

Mike.

 

[misterfish]

A couple of years ago there was an outside kitchen included in one of the show gardens which I think had a dark hardwood work surface. This was made by Armstrong Jordan - so maybe Doctor Bob could tell you about it.

Misterfish

 

[doctor Bob]

The worktop was acroos the back of the kitchen, it was an exotic african hardwood name of which escapes me at present.
Very very dense wood, with a high oil content.

 

[feswood]

i would love to see some pics of the bench

 

[nicholaswebb]

well..its all made now...i had to go through with it even against the warnings because id started..

im going to paint it or stain it now... what do you think would be best (bearing in mind what you say that nothing will be best!)

Ive tried wood stain, but it looks a bit rubbish...what i really want is a matt finish, but something that will protect it as much as possible..

Ive also tried some water based undercoat, which looks fantastic (hiding the grain which is what i am after for this project)...but then id have to put sating or gloss over it which would ruin the look..

ive got a decent cover for it, and might even store in indoors in winter..

ill put up pictures as it breaks down, to prove you all right!

 

[Harbo]

Osmo UV Protection Oil.

Rod