# Reclaimed Pine Dining Room Table



## gtmatt22 (Aug 4, 2010)

I am new to the forums and I will greatly appreciate any feedback I can get.

I am working on building a large dining room table. I have purchased some reclaimed heart pine that was pulled from a textile mill in NC. The table will be 144in by 45in. 

I have a couple of questions.

1- The wood is very old and has beautiful saw marks. However, there is still paint and some slight stains on the wood that I want to remove. My original plan is to use a electric hand planner because the boards are 15in wide and won't fit into my board planner. I want to remove the paint and grime but I want to leave as much of the orginal finish as possible. Is a planner a bad idea? Should I stick with sanding? Is there a chemical process to remove 100+ year old paint?

2- Once the table top is ready I wanted to leave the finish as rustic as possible. I don't want a high mirror finish and I want to leave the wood as natural as possible. However, I need something that will protect from hot plates, spilled wine, etc that will happen on a dining room table. I don't know what product to use that will keep a dull finish but protect from years of wear and tear.


Thanks in advance and I can post pictures if that will be helpful.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Industrial strength Methylene Chloride (very dangerous to beginners) will remove the paint and usually does not remove the patina (aged look). 
Pre-Catalyzed Lacquer is usually equal to or superior to most dining table finishes you would buy in a furniture store and we all know that dining room table tops last a long time. The downside is that it must be sprayed.


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## Brian_Hinther (Sep 13, 2009)

:thumbsup: on stripper with methylene chloride.

:thumbdown: (thumbs down) on trying an electric hand planer. They are very difficult to keep from ruining your piece. If you really need to remove a lot of wood, a belt sander would probably be easier on your project.

An alternative to spraying pre-catalyzed lacquer would be brushing or wiping a good varnish. Waterlox would be most heavy-duty (and darkest); Pratt & Lambert 38 is a lighter finish.


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Many finishes can be dulled or matted by sanding the topcoat; on a micro-level, the rough surface disperses the light in multiple directions and reduces gloss. I do this often with varnish.


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## gtmatt22 (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback. 

I don't know if I'm ready for industrial strength anything and I probably don't have the proper space to allow ventilation, etc.

I thought about going with a manual hand planner but we thought electric would be easier. I may just try a round with the belt sander and see what happens. Any recommendations on the sandpaper strength?

My wife wants more a high gloss finish but I wanted more of an eggshell (to steal from paint terminology). I didn't even think about running some sand paper over the top coat. 

Would anyone recommend Waterlux? 

Thanks again for all the help.


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## adinfinite (Aug 14, 2010)

This is great stuff. I have a similar problem and was searching for solutions when I found this forum. Problem solved. Thanks guys!


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## barngeek (Aug 24, 2010)

*orbital sander*

Use an orbital sander. The belt sander can blast through the patina to fast. Unless you have a very light touch. That aged patina is not very deep and if you sand down to much you will get to fresh wood. The orbital sander will also allow you to target certain areas, and go after the paint more aggressively. Another technique is to use a pressure washer to take off the paint. This will freshen the wood up a bit but it will leave the saw marks. Be careful not to hold the spray to close or in one spot for to long it will tear up the wood fibers. Of course after doing this you will have to sticker the wood and let it dry. 

For more tips on using reclaimed wood visit this site.

http://www.barngeek.com/old-barn-wood.html


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