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Work in progress-antique chestnut countertops

Rich Soby

Rich Soby

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1,553
Location
Cape Cod, Ma.
this past April took a ride up to Vermont to get the beams.




old stuff! not a saw mark on any of them.



Removing the nails and other bits of metal


(yeah yeah I know I gotta cut my lawn...)


Setting them up on the saw. I snapped a chalk line on the beams and followed it.








Straight lining the boards


flattening a face to start planning


Glued up and epoxy set. trimming the Dutchmen and pegs flush now theyre ready for the wide drum sander



More to come....
 
That is really cool Rich :thumb:
Were the beams free for the taking ?? There are a few old collapsed barns on my street that have been sitting in a pile for as long as I can remember. They are probably at least 150 years old. I never thought about digging through them for some old lumber.
 
Not free but i got a fair price on them. A coworker and his bisiness partner tore down some barns and are selling what you see in the pics. Its alot of work but the results are worth it. I found some bug activity so it went on hold while they are being fumigated. I checked a couple days ago and no more little dust piles so ready to go
 
Finished!
3 coats of Target em8000cv with crosslinker additive. The first two coats were gloss the final coat was flattened with Targets flattening agent to dull it a bit below satin not quite flat. The first coat I added TransTint Dark Mission Brown dye the final two were TransTint Dark Walnut. This gave it that nice warm aged look





 
Thanks everyone! It really was a cool project to work on. Not often these types come along and the challenges it presented were different than many of the other projects I have done.
Bob, those end grain Dutchmen are filling in where there were mortises in the beams. I oriented the grain as if it was just all cut at once. And I reused the pegs to fill all the peg holes.
I think the hardest part was keeping everything looking old even having some of the joinery looking time worn. where the two countertops meet they don't quite fit, again to not make it look too perfect which imo would have taken away from all the imperfections already present.
 
well done rich and i agree making something look good and old both at the same time is tuff.. i like the fillers you used for the mortices and peg holes.. so how did you make old plugs???
 
The old pegs were still in the beams I drove them out and just made plugs from them. Everything is held in with epoxy that I tinted to emphasize the imperfections bug holes and checks knots etc. Most I left the epoxy below the surface to give it more depth and character while still fillimg and strengthening the boards.
 
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