# Barn wood kitchen table



## Rooney (Feb 1, 2012)

First of all, I am new to the forum. I am enjoying it and it is very informative.

I am a newbie to woodworking and could use some advice. I am planning on making a kitchen table out of oak barn wood from a barn that has fallen down on our family farm. I have already built a headboard and a bench out of the stuff. The headboard and bench I made very rustic looking where I didn't have to worry about tight joints, planing, and staining. The boards are warped and cupped. The tools I have at my disposal are a table saw, miter saw, router, palm sander, and a bench top planer

My questions are:
1. How do I get good straight edges for joining?
2. Should I plane the wood down or just sand the top and leave some of that barn wood look?
3. What type of finish should I use?
4 Any other suggestions

Below is a picture of the bench I made which gives an idea of the wood I am working with. Any advice would be appreciated.


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## MNsawyergp (Jan 31, 2012)

If you have a table saw you can make a sled to put uneven edged boards on that will slide against the fence and give you a nice straight edge. If you have a circular saw you can make a guide jig that lays on top of the board that you clamp on and run the saw against the straight edge. Let me know and I can give more details. You could plane the lumber, but you will most likely run into nails buried in the boards and wreck the planer blades. i doubt if anybody will do it for you. You will want to use a magnetic scanner on all of the boards first. You could sand it, but the old paint probably has lead in it. For a finish I suggest sealing it with a sanding sealer. I like Zinsser sanding sealer. Then use a polyurethane finish. I can visualize a nice 2 layer thick top with trestle legs. Let me know


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I don't think the barn wood is a good candidate for a kitchen table unless it's covered with a sheet of glass. I think it would be too hard to keep clean. Another problem is the fact that the wood is warped and cupped. You would need to rip the cupped boards in two to make the top reasonability flat. As far as getting the edges straight, probably the best way for you is trim them on the table saw. You can trim a little off each side until you get it straight. Now lay all the boards out on a bench together and dryfit them to see how straight they are with each other. You will probably have to touch them up here and there. Then if the boards will go through your planer edgewise construct a fence to clamp in the planer to run the boards through. The planer pulls the wood in a straight line and if you put the fence in on a angle it will hold the board up against it keeping them square. This will take the place of a jointer which you don't have and dress the edges. Lay them out again to dryfit them and make sure there is not more than a 1/64" gap between them. When ready use either I bar clamps or pipe clamps and glue them together with any carpenters glue. It would be better if you could run a spline in the boards or use a biscuit cutter but can be glued with the butt joint only. 

I think if you plane or sand the wood, you would loose the rustic appearance so you might as well use new wood and save the barn wood for another project. 

I would not finish barnwood with any other finish than an oil finish.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I agree with most of the above but..*

I have a different approach. 
After thoroughly checking for metal, I would select the flattest boards, with the least amount of cup, you could find that works out to the width you want and plane them first. Put the flattest side down and plane the top, then flip them over each time as you go, running them all through with the same height setting.

Now you have flat surface to use on the tablesaw, which you will use to rip the edges straight. You need a known straight edge board of thin plywood or Masonite to hold against the fence. You then can rest them on rough sandpaper, secure it with tape, hot glue etc, or screw or clamp your barn wood on top of your straight board and make a pass. The result will be a straight edge on the barn wood. After straightening one edge on all the boards, set your saw for the maximum width of good material on each board. 

Now you have straight, flat boards! Now you can glue them edge to edge, but checking first for small gaps as suggested in a "dry" fit. Maybe a touch up with a long bed hand plane will close the gaps or another pass on the straight line board.

One consideration so far not mentioned is Powder Post beatles being brought into the house from the wood. Generally the cure is to heat the boards to *** degrees, not sure how hot to kill the beatles and their eggs. Do a web search to find out what temperature.  bill

Here's a picture I stole from one of my pal Knotscott's posts.
It will work once all the boards are the same length...more or less:
This ain't MY Sled, but it's a great design!


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> I have a different approach.
> After thoroughly checking for metal, I would select the flatest boards, with the least amount of cup, you could find that works out to the width you want and plane them first. Put the flatest side down and plane the top, then flip them over each time as you go, running them all through with the same height setting.
> 
> Now you have flat surface to use on the tablesaw, which you will use to rip the edges straight. You need a known straight edge board of thin plywood or Masonite to hold against the fence. You then can rest them on rough sandpaper, secure it with tape, hot glue etc, or screw or clamp your barn wood on top of your straight board and make a pass. The result will be a straight edge on the barn wood. After straightening one edge on all the boards, set your saw for the maximum width of good material on each board.
> ...


I like your ripping sled. That’s a good idea. I use only a jointer to straighten wood so I never thought about making something like that. Where are the powder post beetles in this country?. Twenty years ago they were only found in a few antiques from Europe. The antiques were suppose to be fumigated before they were shipped but I guess some got loose. Nasty critters. No telling how many replacement wardrobe feet I've made for local antique shops.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*You Tube Barnwood table*

Apparently they did not plane or sand the barnwood down to new wood. They'd like to sell you one, but I thought it was worth looking at. 






This one on prepping the lumber:





This one on finishes:


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## Rooney (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for the tips guys. These beetles have me a bit concerned now. I have seen evidence of them in one of the boards. They make something called boracare which will kill them. That stuff isn't cheap, $100 for a gallon.


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