Working with reclaimed hardwood

[Chuck Melton]

Now that I am getting the shop in a decent order, my wife is putting the idea out there that she would like a platform bed made from reclaimed hardwood (She saw one on Houzz that she loves).

 

When working with reclaimed stuff, how do you go about getting it flat and coplanar and still maintain that vintage look? Just take it as light as possible and throw amber shellac on it?

 

The look she likes is demonstrated in this bed:

 

http://www.fourcornershome.com/products/tiaoga-bed/

[Tpt life]

I only surface faces that will butt and be glued. With such a rustic look, cut nails can draw out a bow without looking out of character. Occasionally I will run a sander to knock down splinters and highlight milling marks. The rest I just deal with as "character."

[krtwood]

I would think it's going to vary widely based on the particular source of lumber, and how you want the final look to be.  For some boards the color is going to go pretty deep into the surface and for others it might not be very deep at all.  Maybe it's an old hand hewn beam or rough sawn board and you don't want to touch that outside surface at all because that's the look you want, or maybe you want something that has the same surface quality you'd have with something made out of new material and then you don't really have any choice but to surface it and what you get is what you get.

[TRBaker]

On recycled woods, if you want to keep the "old" look, do all your machining on the surfaces that won't be seen and leave the rest as is. I've done some pieces where the customer didn't even want the old bent over nails pulled out.

[Chuck Melton]

On recycled woods, if you want to keep the "old" look, do all your machining on the surfaces that won't be seen and leave the rest as is. I've done some pieces where the customer didn't even want the old bent over nails pulled out.

The nails would definitely be coming out unless my wife wants me buying new jointer knives.. Oh wait that might not be a bad way to get that set of carbide knives I have had my eye on.

[ColinF]

The nails would definitely be coming out unless my wife wants me buying new jointer knives.. Oh wait that might not be a bad way to get that set of carbide knives I have had my eye on.

I built this picture frame for my mom using old barn siding, it had several nail holes that didn't look right empty to me so I took old nails, used a dremmel and cut them about a 1/2" long and epoxied them into the holes, the heat from the dremmel gave them a nice antique look to

[Rapid Roger]

I found a nail in a piece of 2 x 4 once...........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rog     

[ColinF]

I found a nail in a piece of 2 x 4 once...........

Rog

Now how am I going to get that out!?!?

[Andy Cloud]

A welders wire brush can do wonders on the exposed surfaces that are not jointed. 

[Ozwald]

I found a nail in a piece of 2 x 4 once...........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rog     

 

Thanks for the reminder - I keep meaning to make one of these.