Not my project. One being finished up now by a friend. All the bath vanities are done with countertops made from slabbed pine lumber, showing the natural waney edges along above the drawerfront tops. De-barked, then sanded smooth as a baby’s butt. The slab lumber was air dried as completely as air dried lumber can be.
The owners want to see the natural grain, so they are to be finished clear. What would you use to do this? What my friend will use is one of West System’s epoxy products.
Replies
Well, won't that look something from the craft fair<G> Waterlox gym floor finish...
EliphIno!
I bought a few months ago an antque pine cabinet (about 150 years old). Its about 44" wide and about 2' deep. The top is a funky natural pine with the funky hand made dovetails exposed ontop. I cut a 2" hole into the top and it fit perfectly between the two top draws where I put my2" pipe to plumbing I ran down through my floor. I had a beautiful basin thrown for me by a potter in Vermont that sits proudly atop the cabinet and I installed faucets in the "wall" over the "old fashion looking" wash basin......oh yeh, the finish.
I rubbed several coats of Butchers Wax.....course I'll probably have to do it every few months but that takes all of five minutes with a soft rag.
No finish I've ever done looks this good on a piece like this and really keeps the wood natural looking.
You could also use tongue oil but the Butchers Wax looks totally awesome.
Do a cpl of different tests.
BE funky and awesome
andy
In his first interview since the stroke, Ram Dass, 66, spoke with great difficulty about how his brush with death has changed his ideas about aging, and how the recent loss of two old friends, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg, has convinced him that now, more than ever, is the time to ``Be Here Now.''
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I like the way tung oil brings out the colour in the pine but it will let water stians into it for an application like this. I have used plain old polyurethene on wood tops before with good results but pine is soft and not stable so I would want to stabilize it. West is one choice that will do that but I don't know how smooth it will finish out. that waterlox sounds like a good one..
Excellence is its own reward!
I vote for West System too. Bombproof and waterproof.
Formerly BEMW at The High Desert Group LLC
Back when I was younger and had way too much time on my hands, I got heavily into RC airplane modeling. Way too deep. Wasted many wee hours building heavily detailed scale planes. All wood, sheeted in balsa, and then finished in fiberglass. I had all the tools, and all the stuff. My pride and joy was a 72" wingspan Sukhoi M26 monoplane. The Sukhoi was the winner for a couple of years back then, of the world championship aerobatic competitions.
It wasn't West Sytem's, but some competitor, that I used. Some low viscosity epoxy that I mixed about 5 to 1 with kicker to flow on over the 0.72 oz/sf woven glass sheet, right on the smoothed balsa skins. I used microballoons (micor teeny glass balls resembling white flour) to thicken it to do fillets. Sanded everything out to 800 grit before priming, and then worked up to a 1400 grit finish over the filler/primer before spraying on the finish coats with 2-part epoxy paints. I would spend weeks, making the masks for the lettering and graphics that were part of the finish. Final flow-ons were sprayed clearcoats, two coats. Show quality stuff.
I advised my friend who wants to coat these vanity tops to use the same microballoons for doing fillets where wood backsplashes meet tops, and also told him to use the same kind of wet sanding techniques I used in doing planes, to get the tops perfect.
We'll see what happens. If it is good, I will post some pics.
I bet if you squared up the edges and coverd it with Durock, it would be a good base for tile.
:)
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
I've got a pine slab bathroom vanity in my own place that I put in about 18 years ago. The only finish on it is teak oil--if you don't count the toothpaste spills, soap splashes, etc.,etc., from my little guy. The oil finish rejects almost anything, and cleans up very nicely with warm water and a soapy rag.
The general rule for oil finishes is as follows: You apply the oil--
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Your thread reminded me of a one of a kind counter top I loved, even as a very small child. My uncle built his counter tops out of pine slabs then raised and darkened the grain with a large tipped propane torch. Topped it with a really deep clear coat of some kind - back then it was probably just shellac or varnish. Don't know for sure, like I said, I was just a kid.
I just remember thinking how cool my uncle was for doing something so beautiful with wood. That was a long time ago and I've never seen a counter top like it since.
Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
That was a long time ago and I've never seen a counter top like it since.
Well you're building your own house right?, give it a go.Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Can't do it - heart is set on concrete... I'm a Fu Tung Chen wannabe. Love that guy's work!
I might be able to do something along those lines with the 2 foot diameter oak tree that supports the steel beam holding up a large portion of the second floor though. I don't know, sure would hate to accidentally toast that stick of wood.Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -