Reclaimed Oak Kitchen Island Top

[deepcreek]

I posted about this project on another thread (Other Uses for the Domino) and [member=7493]Sparktrician[/member] [member=67785]JonathanJung[/member] [member=297]Michael Kellough[/member] had some questions so I decided it was better to start a new thread. https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...for-the-domino/msg607537/?topicseen#msg607537

We did this kitchen island several years ago.  A complete description and photos of the finished project are on my website. https://www.timberfire.com/reclaimed-oak-island.html

The top is reclaimed White Oak salvaged from an Amish timber frame barn in Pennsylvania Dutch country.  The boards were originally part of the threshing floor where grain was separated from straw and husks.  (They were nasty and full of square nails.)  We actually had to pressure wash the "organic matter" off of them which required weeks of forced air drying just to get them back to a usable moisture content.  The client wanted the top VERY distressed, so we had some fun using chains, hammers, and the undulating head in the Festool HL-850 planer to add additional character.

The top was "stained" to coordinate with the floor using a custom blend of two Osmo tinted oils (Osmo Wood Wax Finish 3168 Antique Oak & 3118 Granite Gray).  It was then sealed with two coats of Osmo Polyx 3011.  This belongs to an interior decorator friend of mine who did the Annie Sloan finish on the base cabinets.

Anyway, here are some process photos.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Joe

 

[Sparktrician]

Joe, thanks for the great documentation!  Stay well, eh?  [smile]

 

[Cheese]

Very nice recovery.... [smile]  Some of those boards were really trashed, it looks like some of the oak was soft & powdery?  Very similar to a white oak countertop I did, I could remove some of the oak with my thumb nail.

It's a long ways from Pennsylvania to Texas.  [tongue]  Nice job.

 

[lshah72414]

Very nice job. Love the characterizations on the top you did. Looks great!

 

[deepcreek]

Very nice recovery.... [smile]  Some of those boards were really trashed, it looks like some of the oak was soft & powdery?  Very similar to a white oak countertop I did, I could remove some of the oak with my thumb nail.

It's a long ways from Pennsylvania to Texas.  [tongue]  Nice job.

This was some of the worst lumber we've ever worked with but it was chosen intentionally.  The client had an auction photo of a centuries old French farm table that showed every bit of its rustic history.  She wanted that look duplicated so we started with boards that had been used as a threshing floor in a barn rather than beam material.  In retrospect, this may have been a mistake as it created all kinds of problems starting with our shop suddenly smelling like manure.

The side that is exposed in the kitchen was actually the side that was turned down in the barn.  The side that was originally exposed was in horrible shape.  We used a good bit of System 3 epoxy (tinted black in case it came through holes and cracks to the new face) to reinforce punky areas and to stabilize some checking.  We even went to the trouble of ensuring the bowtie keys and dutchman patches we inlaid were a little sloppy to emulate the original (rather than fine furniture).

The boards were locally sourced in Houston from a company that "imports" wood from old Amish barns being dismantled in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Years before, we did make a trip from Houston to Pittsburgh and back for a trailer load of Australian burl slices but that's a whole other story.

This is a photo of the underside of the top which was exposed in the barn.

[attachimg=1]

 

[Cheese]

1. The side that is exposed in the kitchen was actually the side that was turned down in the barn.  The side that was originally exposed was in horrible shape.  We used a good bit of System 3 epoxy (tinted black in case it came through holes and cracks to the new face) to reinforce punky areas and to stabilize some checking. 
2. We even went to the trouble of ensuring the bowtie keys and dutchman patches we inlaid were a little sloppy to emulate the original (rather than fine furniture).

[/quote

Thanks for the additional info Joe... [big grin]

1. I was curious where the epoxy was being placed as the top surface only contained knots...not epoxy, now it makes sense when the bottom surface is shown.

2. Nice touch with that detail, a small item but it makes a huge difference in the overall look.  [smile]

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Beautiful, and a new lease of life  [thumbs up]