Bruce Hamilton writes:
Dear Groopsters,
I sure have had a wide variety of projects lately.
The table base in these photos needs to have the loose bark
consolidated so more of it won't come off. The material I'm
looking for would have a minimal affect on the appearance
of the surface.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
BruceH
MA
Bruce Hamilton writes:
Groop,
A while back I think I asked about gluing down loose bark on a table
base that was made from a tree trunk. Here are some work-in-progress
pictures as well as the final results.
The person you see injecting fish glue under the bark is Gordon Mitchell.
Gordon has been with me since 1989 when he was a senior in high
school. Fortunately for me he has become more talented then I will ever
be. I consider myself blessed.
After consolidating all the bark down he had to re-glue the pine top
together because of shrinkage. Then he belted sanded the grey paint off
and at the same time flattened an irregularities left over from the glue up.
The pine had a heart wood to sap wood color contrast, the sap wood
being red. After sealing, Gordon colored the heartwood with red dye
and pigments to uniform the color. The areas of the roots that were
without bark were also colored. Then it was finished with a lacquer-
urethane satin off the gun finish.
It has been and will probably be our most unusual job ever. Well,
except the time a women called to say she wanted her kitchen cabinets
refinished. She even offered to deliver them to the shop. What she
brought was a set of cabinets from her doll house in a shoe box!
Best wishes,
BruceH
