Working in the shop the past few weeks has been fascinating, but a challenge, too.
Some old growth boards found their way into my shop - four planks about 5' long and 8" wide. But their history was the main reason I undertook making this tabletop.
These boards are from a tugboat hatch cover from a late 1800s steam tug, built in the Brooklyn navy/ship yard. Older timbers have a much different look and feel, and are more durable, too. Why is that, you ask? Do a little research and you'll find buckets of information, but here's the best I've found, courtesy of The Craftsman Blog by Scott Sidler.
Here is a short list of the many benefits of old-growth lumber.
- More Rot-Resistant – Sure, we have woods like Pressure Treated and Accoya (which I use often) but old-growth wood is the original rot-resistant wood. The slow growth process creates greater proportion of late wood (summer/fall growth) to early wood (spring growth). Late wood is the good stuff that adds this rot-resistance. Also, older trees develop heartwood at their center, which is not only beautiful to the eye, but it is extremely durable and resists rot in ways that other wood can’t.
- More Stable – Wood moves. It contracts when it’s dry and expands when it’s wet. This can cause joints to open up, paint and finishes to fail prematurely, and a host of other issues. But, old-growth wood (due to the tight growth rings you can see in the picture above) does not move nearly as much as new-growth. It is immensely more stable, and therefore keeps everything where it needs to be from siding and framing to windows and doors.
- Stronger – The denseness of old-growth wood makes it a much stronger wood able to carry heavier loads across longer spans. The span rating for framing lumber continues to fall each time the lumber industry revisits it. Wood is getting softer and weaker as the years go by, so old-growth is definitely a worthwhile option, especially if you already have it in your house.
- More Termite-Resistant – Termites don’t like hardwoods. Don’t get me wrong here, termite-resistant is not the same as termite proof. Termites will still eat old-growth wood, but they prefer soft, moist wood (read: easy to chew). Old-growth wood is harder and drier than new lumber and it does not make as tempting of a meal for termites.
The owner requested a table top made from the boards,
so a little gluing, planing and sanding was in order.
There was a pretty nasty crack that I repaired with an inlaid bowtie.
In the process of jointing and laminating the boards, I discovered a problem with my jointer, which resulted in a tear-down and repair. The infeed table was out of adjustment, so when I ran boards over the cutter head to straighten their edge, I wasn't getting a nice tight joint.
If you run a couple of boards over the jointer and get a gap in the middle of the joint, which is what I was experiencing, your infeed table end is too high.
I managed to get the front edge of the jointer to cut perfectly, but the back half of the table was still giving me problems.
I'll have to tear it apart and add some shims to shore the top up, but for now, I could go back to working on the tabletop.
Here's the finished table - the rough top went to the owner,
where he sanded and finished it,
and added some legs.
I love it when people send me pictures of their finished projects!
When I tear down the jointer, I plan on replacing the bearings - it's been almost ten years since I did that, and this machine has miles of wood run over it since then. It sounds a bit whiney, and it's really not that difficult of a job, so the plan is to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
Stay tuned!
