Working with Reclaimed Wood

We love making furniture from reclaimed wood. The idea of being able to give something a second life is exciting. Most of the time people look at old pieces of wood as trash but we see the potential. One of our more recent projects was a reclaimed wood coffee and end table set. Today I am going to discuss the process that went into making this set. 

Before you can actually work with the wood you have to de-nail it. It really isn't a fun process and can take a lot of time. It is important to de-nail the wood so you can protect your tools and yourself. One of the methods that we use is a magnet on a string, or using a medal detector. Either method should help you locate the nails. Then you pull them out with a hammer and an old chisel. After all the wood is de-nailed you have to clean it up.  

We used a restorer which is a fancy name for a wire brush. In essence this device sands down the wood without removing the patina. It takes away the built up dirt and loose splinters. The end result is a beautiful piece of wood. You should repeat these steps until you have cleaned up all of the wood you need for your project.

Now that your wood is ready to go you can now construct your project. For this coffee and end tables set our first step was to cut it to size. Then we ran each piece through the jointer so that the edges meet up nicely. Once this step was complete we used a domino to join the wood.

Next steps are to glue and clamp the tables together. 

THEN YOU WAIT. 

You should wait about 24 hours before unclamping the table. Really give the glue time to dry. 

Once the glue dried and we removed the clamps we decided to sand down the table to give it a smoother touch. Starting at 80 grit we worked our way to 240 grit. 

Once we sanded down the tables to 240 grit we then burn the edges. We do this so

that the cut wood will appear aged and match the rest of the table. 

After we burn all of the edges, the tables are ready for a finish. For these tables we used a brush on polyurethane with a satin finish. We didn't want the tables to appear glossy but wanted them to be smooth to the touch. We applied three coats of polyurethane with 24 hours drying period between each coat. 

We then attached the legs to the tables tops and just liked that we made this beautiful living room set.

This table is available for purchase on our website and we are taking custom orders for reclaimed table tops.