I recently acquired an 8 ft picnic table made out of heavy (2 inch
thick) old growth redwood.
It has the remnants of a light varnish job on it and I would like to
get that off and smooth the surface.
Anybody have thoughts (Pro or Con) on using a belt sander for the
first pass on the sanding and then go to an orbital sander??
Any thoughts on how to best get the old varnish off??
Any thoughts on putting varnish on redwood? Is there a better
alternative for a piece like this that will be subject to the outdoor
elements?
I am in north central Florida. High humidity.
Thanks for feedback
In article <[email protected]>, Serial # 19781010 <[email protected]> wrote:
>Thanks for the feedback. Taking the old varnish off as a start point
>makes sense.
Yeah, but I think I'd remove it mechanically, not with a chemical stripper.
Redwood's fairly porous, and it'll soak up a lot of that stripper. The
stripper will carry varnish into the wood; between that, and the stripper
cooking out over a period of several days, it could be pretty tough getting a
new finish to cure properly.
Sandpaper's not the best thing, either. If it were my table, I'd start with a
card scraper to remove the old varnish. Just be careful not to apply too much
pressure, or you'll damage the wood.
>
>What about using a belt sander on it? What would be the recommended
>approach for smoothing and prepping the surface for the new coat of
>whatever I put on the surface?
>
Belt sander? On redwood? BAAAAAD idea. Very bad. Redwood is very soft. Belt
sanders remove material pretty fast. On soft wood, they can leave deep gouges
in the blink of an eye.
Use a card scraper. Or a random-orbital sander.
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
>I recently acquired an 8 ft picnic table made out of heavy (2 inch
>thick) old growth redwood.
>
>It has the remnants of a light varnish job on it and I would like to
>get that off and smooth the surface.
>
>Anybody have thoughts (Pro or Con) on using a belt sander for the
>first pass on the sanding and then go to an orbital sander??
>
>Any thoughts on how to best get the old varnish off??
>
>Any thoughts on putting varnish on redwood? Is there a better
>alternative for a piece like this that will be subject to the outdoor
>elements?
>
>I am in north central Florida. High humidity.
>
>Thanks for feedback
Doesn't really apply to your situation, but I got some redwood from an old deck
that had a fair amount of that sad looking gunk called "redwood stain" on it.
Since it was in pieces (mostly 8 ft 2x4s) I simply ran it all through my planer
(yeah, the blades were near to the point of needing sharpened anyway). I have
made a number of very pretty projects from it including plant stands, boxes, my
router bit case, etc. I found that for such indoor uses blonde shellac looks
great as does satin poly. It is a very pretty wood when not allowed to weather
and not coated with that fake red crap.
Dave Hall
On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 12:23:30 GMT, Serial # 19781010
<[email protected]> brought forth from the murky depths:
>Thanks for the feedback. Taking the old varnish off as a start point
>makes sense.
>
>What about using a belt sander on it? What would be the recommended
>approach for smoothing and prepping the surface for the new coat of
>whatever I put on the surface?
You'll go through a lot of wood and a lot of belts to
get there. If that's OK with you, and you don't mind
ripply surfaces and lines where one side dipped into
the wood 1/4", go for it. ;)
>I have had a couple of people recommend the possibility of using a
>linseed oil rather than a varnish.
That'll work fine. Your great, great, great grandfather
probably used it on his redwood bench.
>I noticed Larry, that you provided a web link below to additional
>information. Apparently. I could not bring that link up.
>
><http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32670&category=1,310,41069>
When links don't work, try the base URL: www.xxx.com (.net/org, etc.)
www.leevalley.com , search on "cabinet scraper"
-----
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http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development
I am not an expert by any means, and I am sure people will let me know it,
but my thoughts would be use a stripper to get rid of the varnish, or at
least most
of it, then sand it. The varnish will just clog up your paper if you try to
sand it all off. Then, and I am probably wrong as far as the true
professionals
would say, but I would think that maybe linseed oil would be a good natural
treatment.
I will be watching to see what everyone else has to say about this.
Ron
I built a dresser out of some New Guinea Rosewood, and when done I put on
some Behr 630 highgloss Poly clearcoat. The wood went from "slightly dull
reddish" to "HOLY CRAP THAT'S AMAZING".
Putting anything with colour in it, is a crime -- go for protective
clearcoats that bring the natural colour out.
"Serial # 19781010" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I recently acquired an 8 ft picnic table made out of heavy (2 inch
> thick) old growth redwood.
>
> It has the remnants of a light varnish job on it and I would like to
> get that off and smooth the surface.
>
> Anybody have thoughts (Pro or Con) on using a belt sander for the
> first pass on the sanding and then go to an orbital sander??
>
> Any thoughts on how to best get the old varnish off??
>
> Any thoughts on putting varnish on redwood? Is there a better
> alternative for a piece like this that will be subject to the outdoor
> elements?
>
> I am in north central Florida. High humidity.
>
> Thanks for feedback
>
>
Thanks for the feedback. Taking the old varnish off as a start point
makes sense.
What about using a belt sander on it? What would be the recommended
approach for smoothing and prepping the surface for the new coat of
whatever I put on the surface?
I have had a couple of people recommend the possibility of using a
linseed oil rather than a varnish.
I noticed Larry, that you provided a web link below to additional
information. Apparently. I could not bring that link up.
<http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32670&category=1,310,41069>
On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 03:46:56 GMT, Larry Jaques <jake@di\/ersify.com>
wrote:
>On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 13:10:29 GMT, Serial # 19781010
><[email protected]> brought forth from the murky depths:
>
>>I recently acquired an 8 ft picnic table made out of heavy (2 inch
>>thick) old growth redwood.
>>
>>It has the remnants of a light varnish job on it and I would like to
>>get that off and smooth the surface.
>
>Scrape it. (Yes, that will take -more- than 1 minute.)
>
><http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32670&category=1,310,41069>
>
>
>==============================================================
> Like peace and quiet? Buy a phoneless cord.
>http://www/diversify.com/stees.html Hilarious T-shirts online
>==============================================================
Thanks for that feedback Dave.
I don't really have the option of dismantling the table.
It looks like I am going to have to strip the remnants of the varnish
and then sand.
I am considering a belt sander for the heavy work on the first pass
over the large flat areas. Any thoughts on that pro or con?
Dave Gibbs
On 03 Dec 2003 05:12:27 GMT, [email protected] (David Hall) wrote:
>>I recently acquired an 8 ft picnic table made out of heavy (2 inch
>>thick) old growth redwood.
>>
>>It has the remnants of a light varnish job on it and I would like to
>>get that off and smooth the surface.
>>
>>Anybody have thoughts (Pro or Con) on using a belt sander for the
>>first pass on the sanding and then go to an orbital sander??
>>
>>Any thoughts on how to best get the old varnish off??
>>
>>Any thoughts on putting varnish on redwood? Is there a better
>>alternative for a piece like this that will be subject to the outdoor
>>elements?
>>
>>I am in north central Florida. High humidity.
>>
>>Thanks for feedback
>
>Doesn't really apply to your situation, but I got some redwood from an old deck
>that had a fair amount of that sad looking gunk called "redwood stain" on it.
>Since it was in pieces (mostly 8 ft 2x4s) I simply ran it all through my planer
>(yeah, the blades were near to the point of needing sharpened anyway). I have
>made a number of very pretty projects from it including plant stands, boxes, my
>router bit case, etc. I found that for such indoor uses blonde shellac looks
>great as does satin poly. It is a very pretty wood when not allowed to weather
>and not coated with that fake red crap.
>
>Dave Hall
>Thanks for that feedback Dave.
>
>I don't really have the option of dismantling the table.
>
>It looks like I am going to have to strip the remnants of the varnish
>and then sand.
>
> I am considering a belt sander for the heavy work on the first pass
>over the large flat areas. Any thoughts on that pro or con?
>
>Dave Gibbs
If you can control your belt sander better than I can control my Craftsman belt
sander, then it sounds fine. Since I have a 6" PC ROS, I would get some 40 grit
disks for the initial sanding. I can control the ROS better than the belt
sander. Yeah, I know the trick is to keep the belt sander moving, but I get
dips and troughs and just nasty results. Of course I haven't had that damn belt
sander out for a few years now. (Of course it IS the tool and not the tool
user, ya know...!) Watch out for nail heads. Try sinking them below the
surface prior to scraping or sanding if possible.
Dave Hall
[email protected] (David Hall) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> >Thanks for that feedback Dave.
> >
> >I don't really have the option of dismantling the table.
> >
> >It looks like I am going to have to strip the remnants of the varnish
> >and then sand.
> >
> > I am considering a belt sander for the heavy work on the first pass
> >over the large flat areas. Any thoughts on that pro or con?
> >
> >Dave Gibbs
>
> If you can control your belt sander better than I can control my Craftsman belt
> sander, then it sounds fine. Since I have a 6" PC ROS, I would get some 40 grit
> disks for the initial sanding. I can control the ROS better than the belt
> sander. Yeah, I know the trick is to keep the belt sander moving, but I get
> dips and troughs and just nasty results. Of course I haven't had that damn belt
> sander out for a few years now. (Of course it IS the tool and not the tool
> user, ya know...!) Watch out for nail heads. Try sinking them below the
> surface prior to scraping or sanding if possible.
>
> Dave Hall
If this really is good, hart, old growth redwood sanding it with a
belt sander would probably be fine. Although it is still a soft wood
the old stuff is much harder than any redwood you get from second and
third growth. Someone told me amonia would strip varnish but I really
don't know. Maybe that was shellac.
Speaking of redwood picknick tables. I live in No. California where a
lot of the redwood is harvested. My boss has an old redwood table in
his back yard and the top is cut from one piece of wood. It is one
piece of wood that is 4X8 feet and 4 inches thick. The growth rings
move accress the top witht he center of the tree in the center of the
table. It sits concrete legs. I have no idea how old it is but it
looks like it has been there forever.
Greg
On 4 Dec 2003 12:58:35 -0800, [email protected] (Greg
DeBacker) wrote:
>[email protected] (David Hall) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>> >Thanks for that feedback Dave.
>> >
>> >I don't really have the option of dismantling the table.
>> >
>> >It looks like I am going to have to strip the remnants of the varnish
>> >and then sand.
>> >
>> > I am considering a belt sander for the heavy work on the first pass
>> >over the large flat areas. Any thoughts on that pro or con?
>> >
>> >Dave Gibbs
>>
>> If you can control your belt sander better than I can control my Craftsman belt
>> sander, then it sounds fine. Since I have a 6" PC ROS, I would get some 40 grit
>> disks for the initial sanding. I can control the ROS better than the belt
>> sander. Yeah, I know the trick is to keep the belt sander moving, but I get
>> dips and troughs and just nasty results. Of course I haven't had that damn belt
>> sander out for a few years now. (Of course it IS the tool and not the tool
>> user, ya know...!) Watch out for nail heads. Try sinking them below the
>> surface prior to scraping or sanding if possible.
>>
>> Dave Hall
>
>
>If this really is good, hart, old growth redwood sanding it with a
>belt sander would probably be fine. Although it is still a soft wood
>the old stuff is much harder than any redwood you get from second and
>third growth. Someone told me amonia would strip varnish but I really
>don't know. Maybe that was shellac.
>
>Speaking of redwood picknick tables. I live in No. California where a
>lot of the redwood is harvested. My boss has an old redwood table in
>his back yard and the top is cut from one piece of wood. It is one
>piece of wood that is 4X8 feet and 4 inches thick. The growth rings
>move accress the top witht he center of the tree in the center of the
>table. It sits concrete legs. I have no idea how old it is but it
>looks like it has been there forever.
>
>Greg
I just wanted to take a minute to let you guys know how much I
appreciate your taking the time to give me your thoughts on the best
approach to my picnic table project. While it is a recent acquisition
for me, this is a nice old heavy piece and I am thinking it has some
really good possibilities.
My plan, based upon all of your input is to strip the old varnish
remnants (and I will try a spot of amonia to see how it does) and then
use an orbital sander through to a finish with linseed oil. That's the
plan and in a few months I will come back and tell you how it all
turned out. If I can figure out how to attach a picture to these text
files, I will show you what it looks like.
Thanks a lot guys....
Dave Gibbs
Florida
[email protected]
On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 13:10:29 GMT, Serial # 19781010
<[email protected]> brought forth from the murky depths:
>I recently acquired an 8 ft picnic table made out of heavy (2 inch
>thick) old growth redwood.
>
>It has the remnants of a light varnish job on it and I would like to
>get that off and smooth the surface.
Scrape it. (Yes, that will take -more- than 1 minute.)
<http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32670&category=1,310,41069>
==============================================================
Like peace and quiet? Buy a phoneless cord.
http://www/diversify.com/stees.html Hilarious T-shirts online
==============================================================