Mixed finish with paint and natural elements

[Erik Finn Larson]

I am building a coffee table as a mother's day gift out of Hard Maple. This table is inspired by an coffee table my Mom saw at a craft fair one time and really loved. I've not been able to find a photo of the original, but here is one thing that I found that is fairly close: 

 

 

 

Note that the outlines of the images are have been essentially carved into the table top and then painted black, and the table surface is then painted.

 

To give a bit more context here was the initial design I did in Sketch up as to what the table would look like. The idea was for the whole top to be painted and the base to be left natural wood. The top here is shown in blue, but the idea was to follow the carving and painting scheme for the top. Rather than generic squares, I've worked with my siblings to create images that have special meaning to our family.

 

 

As I have progressed through the project, I've had a desire to leave part of the top natural rather than painting the whole thing. Here is a rough idea of where I have landed for the top. Note that our outlines were cut using a combination of a 45 degree v bit on a router and a rotary tool.

 

 

So the question I have for this forum is: how int he world do I finish this thing? I've done some basic research and there are lots of opinions out there about sealing vs. not sealing, priming below paint vs. not, proper finish to use, etc.

 

Perhaps I can lay out a simple way of going about this and let you all either shoot it down or congratulate my on my ingenious plan. Regardless of the direction I go, the plan is to complete the full process on scrap prior to ever touching the top and base.

 

I wanted to avoid the issues of blotchy stain on maple, so the plan is to use no stain and just clear coat the portions of the top that are left natural and the entire base.

 

- We thought we would start with the grooves that are cut into the top and paint them directly (no priming, no sealing) with a high quality black acrylic paint.

- We'd follow up with a good sanding to ensure that the black only lived in the grooves.

- Next we would used colored acrylics to paint the portions of the top that are not left natural. Again painting directly on the wood without sealing or priming

- We would let this dry for a couple of days then clear coat the entire project with a water based polyurethane

 

Note that we don't have the benefits of a sprayer, so whatever we decide will likey need to be applied with a brush.

 

Any thoughts, insights, experiences would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

[wdwerker]

Seal the surface, then route the grooves , then paint the grooves black . Black seems to bleed or soak in to every place you don't want it to be. If the surface is sealed its much easier to clean up wayward black paint .

[Stobes21]

Agreed. A coat of blonde shellac before painting will help keep the pigment from running down the grain. It will also give you a degree of protection if someone accidentally drips some paint on a section you'd intended to keep natural. It is a good primer as well so it should also help the paint adhere and cover in fewer coats. So I would follow your plan as laid out above except to start by giving it a coat of 1 or 2lb blonde shellac. Then, after you've sanded back the surface to ensure the paint is only in the grooves, give it another coat of shellac before painting the surface. Then you can topcoat with your water based poly.

As always use test boards before finishing to make sure you don't have adhesion issues and the finish is giving you the look you want. But I think you're in the right track. Sounds like a cool project. Good luck!

[Erik Finn Larson]

It's two years after my initial post, but I wanted to share the approach that we took and the results. Our final approach was a combination of my original ideas, the great tips I got here, and some trial and error on test boards.

We started with the table top sanded to 220, but with no finish. We carved all of the outlines needed for the table using a combination of methods. For all of the sqaures and long straight lines we used a router with a v-groove bit just parely exposed. We used a straight board as a guide and started/stopped the lines by eye.

For the writing around the edges we used a font my brother developed some years back based on my mom's actual handwriting. We printed sayings onto stencil film, adhered the film around the edges and then used a rotary tool to carve through the stencil film and into the wood. This approach using stencil film worked great.

We took a similar approach for the individual content in the squares. In some cases we created digital designs in the squares and simply printed out the sqaure and the content. In other cases, we simply printed out a square and used pencil to hand draw an image onto the stencil film. In either case, we then adhered the stencil film to the table and carved through it onto the wood.

Once the carving step was done, we sanded with 220 again, then sealed the whole thing with Zinsser Seal Coat (a blonde dewaxed shellac), and sanded down the seal coat.

We then painted the carved grooves, mostly in black, but some in white and other colors. and then did another light sanding, followed by a second round of seal coat and another light sanding (220).

Here is what the project looked like at this point:

We then painted all of the background and solid colors within the squares using high quality acrylic paint. At first we tried to do this really carefully without marring the already painted grooves. In the end we found it easier to simply get the color down and then touch up the carved grooves where needed.

We topped the entire project off with several coats of a General Finishes water based Poly. It came out great. Most importantly, my Mom loves it, and everyone in the family who helped with the carving and finishing feels a sense of ownership in the end product.

Here are a few pics of the final result.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Erik Finn Larson
Image entered twice

[wtnhighlander]

Very nice! What a cool way to get the entire family involved!

[wdwerker]

That's a great looking table ! 

I imagine few people will have any idea the amount of time and energy you poured into its creation. Everyone involved should sign it and date it with a personal dedication to your mom. I am sure it will be a family treasure for generations to come.

[sheperd80]

What an amazing gift. This mustve seemed almost insurmountable but youve done an excellent job. Involving the family and making it so personalized sure makes this a priceless piece, not to mention the workmanship involved. Very impressive.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

 

[..Kev]

Certainly not something you see every day!  Super nice job!

[gee-dub]

What a wonderful gift.  Nothing could match the thought and effort that went into making your mom that special table.  Its thing like this that help our folks realize they done good with their kids.

[pkinneb]

Very nice! The paint worked out well.