First solid wood project

[Devildawg91]

Yea, so I finally finished the bed tray that I will be using for the next few weeks after my foot reconstruction.  I built it out of red oak and maple and sealed it with shellac and general finishes Arm-R-Seal.

It's my second project, first out of solid non-plywood.

The top is two pieces dominoed together, the frame is red oak mitered and the legs are red oak with maple stretchers in between.

Before finishing it was sanded to 100 - 220  using an ETS 150.  Then hand sanded to 320 after the shellac and lightly with 500 after the Arm-R-Seal

The Top of the table

Does anyone know how to make the grain in the top "POP" more, any comments would be welcomed.

Don't know if I am a woodworker or a Festool Tool Collector, either way its a fun hobby.

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

You can add some Transtint Golden Maple or Dark Vintage Maple to the shellac.

 

[jacko9]

I agree, shellac comes in several colors that allow you to lighten or darken the appearance.  That said, I have trouble getting much out of oak unless I use an oil finish.  I'm sure others on here have more experience with oak and will give you better advise.

Jack

 

[wow]

Nice tray, but I want to know what happened to your foot? 'Reconstruction' sounds complicated - and painful!

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

...meant to ask...does the top come up for different angles and can you store things in it?

There's many finishes that you can use for oak. Most I know use some kind of varnish.  I've been grooving on pure tung oil/citrus solvent...but, is a lot more cost, time, and effort.

 

[sancho57]

Man thats a nice finish especially on the bench,

tell me how did you apply the oil?

Ive been using alot of danish oil lately and it hasnt come out as near as nice as yours.

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

Man thats a nice finish especially on the bench,

tell me how did you apply the oil?

Ive been using alot of danish oil lately and it hasnt come out as near as nice as yours.

Thanks. Learning this finish is still a work in progress. There's been a lot of trial and error. Many say 1:1. That was terrible. Some say 3:1 for first coat...but, that is only sometimes correct. I have been doing approximately 2-citrus solvent:1-pure tung oil. The bench was 9 coats, I think. The table was 4 coats. I sanded to 320...applied two coats...sanded 400, new coat (hand rubbed), 800, new coat. With the bench used this process up to 1500 grit nine coats...one per day. How many coats depends on how much of a build up you want. For more of a matte finish, do three or four. For more gloss, go higher grits and more coats.

 

[Devildawg91]

I split a tendon last Feb, and my arch totally fell, so they moved the heel over, fused two joints an then fixed the damaged tendon.

So no weight on it for 4-6 weeks, oh the fun...  too bad pain meds don't take all the pain away.