About 5 years ago we bought a house for my daughter and her babies. The second floor needed real work that got finished with new hardwood flooring. My daughter picked out natural birch.
Since then, we've had several boxes of extra boards sitting in her basement. Stuff was random lengths with a commercial finish.
Fast forward to my daughter finally opening her Physical Therapy office. She asked me to make a stand-up desk at bar height, 5'x2'x 43". I raided her basement and came up with the excess flooring to use in glue-up of the cabinet panels.
Just finished and installed:
The case will carry her printer and a drawer block when needed.
The top was a different story. Originally we had thought to use some of the squirmy-grain walnut I have stacked, but she saw some of the red maple boards stacked and we decided in a book match pair for the top. This wood has many defects and checks, but we took it on anyway.
Finish is three coats of General's gloss Enduro Clear Poly over Plastina dewaxed shellac.
Yes the whole board is fiddle-back curl along with Ambrosia staining. The butterflies are hoarded Bubinga scraps.
Re-Used?
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Re: Re-Used?
#2Excellent Mark. Looks great.
You didn't mention the legs, which are obviously thicker than the panels. Are these birch, maple, or other?
Did you strip/re-finish the birch, leave it as it, or just spray on top of the existing finish?
Henry
Re: Re-Used?
#3Henry (Raleigh NC) wrote:Excellent Mark. Looks great.
You didn't mention the legs, which are obviously thicker than the panels. Are these birch, maple, or other?
Did you strip/re-finish the birch, leave it as it, or just spray on top of the existing finish?
Henry
Hi, Henry,
Legs: They were milled (2.5" square) from a portion of a 6x6 black birch piece that I saved from a felled tree. This was the first time I worked black birch, and have to say it was not pleasant; brittle and splintery and even my planer's Shelix head resulted in lots of torn grain. To get a smooth finish surface on the legs I had to run them through the Performax with 150 grit before going to the hand sander
The finish on the flooring boards was retained; used the factory t&g for the glue-up. Managed to keep from scratching the finish (don't know what it is, but it's very tough) but there were several scuff marks that I was able to rub out with some Maguires No. 9.
Glad you liked it! This project took up a lot of shop space. I can now walk around in there without bumping into things. 
Re: Re-Used?
#4I like it! Beautiful job of repurposing. That's one of my favorite things, making something nice out of nothing. Don't know black birch. Maybe it does not grow locally. Good job, I tend to save things to death.
Re: Re-Used?
#5Barry Irby wrote:.... Good job, I tend to save things to death.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this. (i.e. I do too).
And I like repurposing, as Mark has shown so well.
Henry