I’m not sure how I liked working with the Hard Maple on this project. Even with careful reading of the grain of each board, the wood was very prone to tear-out with the planer and jointer. This was with wood of only relatively moderate figure. Because of this, the stock required a lot of work with my smoothing plane and a card scraper in order to smooth the areas that showed torn out grain. I usually smooth the surfaces of project parts to eliminate mill marks but this wood required more that that.

Of course, I did all of this smoothing work as I went along creating the various parts for the table so all that was left after assembly was sanding. I always hand sand my projects using a cork-faced sanding block and this was no exception. The wood was generally smooth from the planning and scraping. So, all that was necessary was a bit of blending of the planed and scraped areas – I did this with 180-grit paper.

The finish on the table is a simple one. I did not want to add too much color to the Maple but, I did want to warm it up a bit. I made a test board surfaced with the same processes as the table and tried applying Boiled Linseed Oil, blonde Shellac, and General Finishes Arm-R-Seal in various combinations. In the end, I chose straight Arm-R-Seal. For the first coat, I scrubbed it into the surface with 400 wet/dry paper. After that coat dried over night, I scuff sanded the finish with the same grit paper, wiped the sanding dust with Naptha coated cloth and applied second a third coats of the finish.  After letting the finish cure for a week, I applied paste wax with 0000 steel wool and buffed the surface.

In the pictures, you can see the finished result. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, they were taken in a hurry just before the table was packed up and sent off to its new home in South Carolina with my in laws.

In the end, I think that the arched aprons and top, the inlay and the splayed legs on this table helped to modernize the basic shaker-inspired design. After it arrived in its new home I received a report that it looked great and that the Maple/Cherry combination worked perfectly with the dark wood floors of the house. I’m hoping for a picture of it in place to see for myself.

When I last posted about this table, the construction was complete and I spoke about the possible options for a finish. In the end, I went with a finish schedule consisting of: Boiled Linseed Oil, Garnet Shellac and General Finishes Arm-R-Seal as a top coat.

I started the finishing process by first thinning the BLO by about 25% with Naptha. This thinned mixture was applied liberally with arag and wet sanded in with 400 grit wet/dry paper. After the oil had some time to soak in I wiped off any excess with a dry rag. The wet sanding with the oil made for a silky smooth base to which I could apply the shellac and top coats. In the picture you can see the table after the BLO was applied.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I elected to use some Garnet shellac to add a bit of color to the table and to also act as a sealer coat between the oil and the top coat (though that’s oil-based too, so there was no real issue except for the BLO possibly not being fully cured). In the pictures, you can see the materials and the pad that I used to apply the shellac. The pad is just composed of an inner ball of a loose cotton material and an outer skin of cotton T-Shirt material. I first charged the pad with denatured alcohol and then squirted shellac onto the pad using the little squeeze bottle shown in the picture (you can also see how I store the pad between uses in a sealed plastic bag).

I applied the shellac quickly in a straight motion where possible slightly overlapping my strokes. Shellac dries quickly so I let each coat dry and then the let next coat dissolve into the previous coat to cover any areas that were not evenly coated. I applied three light coats of shellac in total and rubbed lightly with 0000 steel wool after the last coat to smooth the surface. In the picture you can see the table with the Garnet shellac applied over the BLO.

For the top coat I used General Finishes Arm-R-Seal, Semi-gloss. I thinned this just a bit with Naptha to get very thin coats. The top coat was applied with a paper-towel folded into a small rectangular applicator. I rubbed with steel wool before the third coat of finish to get as smooth a base as I could for that final coat. After vacuuming the table surfaces I went over the table with a towel an Naptha so that it was as clean as possible for the final coat. With all of the coats applied I let the table cure for about two and a half weeks. Then I rubbed the entire table vigorously with 0000 steel wool to even it out for a satin finish. Finally, I applied paste wax with steel wool as an applicator and buffed the dried wax with a rag.

The hardware for the table came from Horton Brasses. I ordered two pulls and a matching escutcheon in brass with a semi-bright finish. As you can see in the the picture, the style is reminiscent of Queen Anne styling. I centered the two pulls vertically on the drawer face and aligned them over the center points of the scroll work left and right of center. The escutcheon was applied in the center of the drawer, about 1/16″ below the edge of the detail at the top of the drawer, just slightly higher than the pulls.

I’ll leave you with a few different views of the table (click for a larger view). I decided to take the pictures outside on a nice spring day. There are a couple of close-ups of the drawer, the knee and knee block and the pad foot. I really enjoyed this project. Working on a period piece was interesting and allowed me to develop some new skills. I guess all that is left is to decide which period to reproduce next!

I spent a considerable amount of time scraping and sanding all of the parts of the table. There were areas on the legs where the knees transition into the posts that needed some cleanup. I carefully worked these first with a card scraper and then followed up with hand sanding. Of course, the rest of the table also required a bit of sanding as well. Because all of the parts had previously been smoothed with a plane and/or and scraped, my sanding schedule for the table started with 150 grit and finished with 180 grit. I tried going to 220 grit but, it seemed to be burnishing the Cherry so, I do not think I will continue to that fine a grit. When all of the sanding is complete, I will give the table a thorough vacuuming and then a final rub down with Naptha to remove all traces of sanding dust and to determine if any areas need further attention.

In the picture (click for larger view) you can see the Queen Anne Side Table in its current state. All that remains for the construction is to put a decorative edge on the top, attach the top to the base and add the hardware. Speaking of hardware, I recently ordered a set of drawer pulls and a matching escutcheon from Horton Brasses. The style is reminiscent of the hardware typically on antique Queen Anne furniture and should work nicely on this piece.

I have also started to consider how I will finish the table. Most Queen Anne furniture that you see is stained dark. Generally for Cherry, I like to use a natural finish allowing the wood to oxidize over time with exposure to sunlight, darkening naturally to a rich patina. However, for this table I am considering adding just a slight bit of coloring with Garnet shellac to even out the tone all of the components.

A quick primer on shellac:

Shellac is a universal binder and a very good finish in its own right. The substance is made from refining and drying the secretions of the Lac bug which is found in India and Asia. Essentially, any finish will adhere to shellac and shellac will adhere to almost anything. Additionally, shellac serves as a perfect sealer between different stages of the finishing process. For example if a dye or stain is used and then sealed with shellac, none of the dye or stain will be removed when the topcoat is applied. One important thing to realize is that only dewaxed shellac will support all topcoats. Most pre-mixed shellacs (aside from Zinsser Seal-Coat) contain wax and will cause problems with adhesion when another topcoat is applied. Shellac that is purchased as dry flakes is dewaxed and must be dissolved in denatured alcohol to produce the finish. Because alcohol is used as the solvent, shellac has the benefit of drying in minutes. Also, shellac has the properties of dissolving into previous coats effectively creating one single thicker coat when multiple coats are applied.

Shellac solutions can be mixed to different strengths or concentrations. This is referred to as the “cut” of the shellac – the premixed stuff is usually about a 3 lb. cut which would equate to 3lbs. of shellac flakes by weight mixed in 1 gallon of alcohol. I usually mix to around a 1 or 1 1/2 lb. cut. This produces a good workable consistency and fairly light coats. I only mix what I will use within about 6 months because shellac in the liquid form has a limited shelf life after which it will have a tendency to not dry or harden. For me, this means a 1 lb. cut is 2 oz. of shellac flakes (by weight) mixed with 16 oz. of alcohol (by volume).

There is nothing real scientific about mixing shellac – it will work no matter what strength you mix it to. It’s easier if the flakes are ground to a fine consistency before dissolving in the alcohol. Using an old coffee grinder would work well, or you can do what I do – put the flakes in a plastic bag, seal it and then hit it with a rubber mallet until you have very fine pieces left. Put the alcohol in a glass jar, add the shellac and seal the jar. Swirl the mixture around every half hour or so for about the first four hours and then let it sit over night. The next day it should be ready to use. The last step before use is to strain the shellac mixture through paint strainer or coffee filter to remove any impurities left after the refining process.

I took some time to create some finish sample boards from scrap Cherry following the same sanding schedule as the table. On the left half of the top board I used Watco Natural Danish Oil followed by two coats of Garnet shellac and then a top coat of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. The other half of that board did not receive the Watco. On the lower board I used Boiled Linseed Oil followed by the same sequence of Shellac and Arm-R-Seal with the right half of the board not receiving the BLO. Sorry for the picture – it does not really show the variations too well. I am considering the using BLO/shellac sequence because it is not showing the blotching that the Watco seems to. Some of the Cherry on this table is a bit curly and may be prone to blotching – I do not want to obscure any of the curl in the boards.

It’s very easy at this stage of a project to speed through the final finish preparation steps and finish process in an attempt to get the thing out of the shop. I always find myself battling this. In the long run it’s always best to spend the necessary time to prepare the surfaces as well as possible and to test all of the finish steps to assure a desired end result. Of course, this takes more time and delays moving on to the next project but, in the end it yields the best results.