Wood Table Damaged by a Hot Cooking Vessel

[rizzz]

Paste Varnish application is really a 1-time gig for the most part. You don't ever want to apply it without the top being squeaky clean (prep with Mineral Spirits). It's applicable to any wood.

That's not going to prevent or even slow cracking / warping in the least. That is caused by not properly kiln drying the wood (cracking) before the build and also construction methods (warping). Nothing you can do as a consumer to prevent that.

Option 2 is to have someone copy the design using premium woods, handmade by a master cabinentmaker. Then you'd get it right. We do that all the time in my store but needless to say you're not going to get Restoration Hardware Made in China pricing for the table.

Thanks for the reply! Very helpful!

Will the mineral spirits discolor the wood?

So when the table cracks because of a water spill---that is not the wood or the finishes' fault but rather by not properly kiln drying?

http://www.xojane.com/family/lifesty...ion-hardware-0

So something like this would be impossible to prevent? Even by applying paste varnish?

[drcollie]

Mineral spirits will not discolor the wood as they don't penetrate the top coat of the finish, all it does is clean the gunk off the table to give you a squeaky clean surface to work with.

Wood doesn't crack from water spills, you have to soak it in water for long periods of time (on the end grain) for that to happen. Like sofa legs sitting in a flooded room for two days. Cracking in furniture is the result of wood not being properly dried prior to use, or poor construction joinery that doesn't allow for expansion and contraction.

You can 'bulletproof' most any wood surface if you're willing to put enough build on it. Twenty coats of paste varnish would certainly do that - but you might not like the way it looks when you're done.

[jordan.brainard]

Do you make and ship tables? How would I go about finding someone in WIlmington NC to build a table that looks like the RH 17c Monastary table for me???

Paste Varnish application is really a 1-time gig for the most part. You don't ever want to apply it without the top being squeaky clean (prep with Mineral Spirits). It's applicable to any wood.

That's not going to prevent or even slow cracking / warping in the least. That is caused by not properly kiln drying the wood (cracking) before the build and also construction methods (warping). Nothing you can do as a consumer to prevent that.

Option 2 is to have someone copy the design using premium woods, handmade by a master cabinentmaker. Then you'd get it right. We do that all the time in my store but needless to say you're not going to get Restoration Hardware Made in China pricing for the table.

[drcollie]

Yes, we can make and ship a table anywhere.

I have no idea of your local cabinetmakers....

[SteveinHnl]

Very much so! Paste wax is similar to what you put on your car. Its not permanent and can be easily removed with mineral spirits.

Paste Varnish is a hardened, permanent finish that is polyurethane based, and its not easy to remove once applied. It require a commitment to do the whole piece, but its what I would do, personally. If you can apply it DRY-DRY-DRY, then you won't see too much change in the look and get a lot of stain/moisture protection on it. Plus it would stop those little slivers from coming up, which is going to be an ongoing problem otherwise. The problem I have in telling forks to do this is they ALWAYS put it on too heavy, and then it looks terrible. I use an old t-shirt when I do it, and dip it in the paste varnish, then literally 'rub' it into the finish so that when I'm done you can't even see it. You don't want to apply it as a coating, you want to scrub it into the wood, that's what I mean by DRY-DRY-DRY.

I learned that trick over 20 years ago from a master cabinentmaker, and I've passed it onto many shops since then who use it. You would never suspect there is any polyurethane on the pieces when its done properly.

Hi, Duane.

Thank you for sharing your expertise and experience with this forum. Is there any chance you could post a short video on Youtube or elsewhere just quickly demonstrating the method of applying the paste varnish DRY-DRY-DRY? I am worried about applying too much, as you have warned against. My wife too loves the Restoration Hardware table look, and we have purchased an unfinished table, but now that she has read so much on the internet about damage to the table, she is afraid for us to use it until we can get it sealed down. I have managed to find and purchase some Bartley's paste varnish (that was not easy), and am raring to go, but want to do it right! Thanks, Steve.

[Lloyd]

Have you checked at the Bartley's website? They have application instructions under stain and varnish info in addition to a customer service phone number.

[pstein15]

Duane. Commenting on this posters disappointment. I thought all furniture had to bear the country of origin. Is that not true?

Just read all 4 pages. My Dining Room (DR) set experience from an upscale store. I was a 20 year customer. Spent thousands. Two years ago, updated my DR. I made it clear to the new saleslady I had, that I did not want any furniture from China. Was shown a set and told it was made in NC. Catalog they showed me didn't state origin. Table was a heavy wood base, marble with a travertine top. Noticed the fabric chairs had upholstery that was not sewn on correctly. Turned chair upside down. Noticed a crack in the leg which had been glued. Looked for the country of origin. No tags. I thought tags were mandatory on imported furniture. Googled and actually found a picture of my set. Made by Amann Living, an importer. They make nice looking furniture at a not too bad price. Contacted company. They said the set was made in China. Final straw was seeing Wayfair advertise it on the Walmart site. Ouch. Went back to the store. The store manager said during the recession, many of their suppliers went out of business, and they were trying new sources. They confirmed it was made in China. The saleslady trying to save a commission said it was shipped from NC. Right. I kept the nice table, but returned the chairs for nicer chairs with an upcharge. New chair tags said 100% bovine leather, whatever that is. Probably bits and scraps from anything on hooves. I then found that a large Ottoman I had purchased there 6 months before at what I thought was a great price, was bonded leather. Actually, not a bad item for its purpose. I wasn't then familiar with the term. The name, bonded leather sounded expensive, like the quality was insured (bonded). Eight months later, this long established prestige contemporary store in Centerville OH, went out of Business. Sad.

Hello

I am so terribly disappointed. I've spent quite a bit of time shopping for a table for my breakfast room. I finally found a table that meets all my needs at Restoration Hardware. So I ordered it yesterday.

Here's the table:



Here's the link:

http://http://www.restorationhardwar...082&navCount=0

Well, I decided to browse the GardenWeb site (which led me here) and after reading a thread entitled Furniture 101:Q&A in the furniture forum, I decided to google "quality+Restoration Hardware+furniture" and learned that RH had moved their furniture manufacturing operation to China last year.

The descriptive text for the table reads as follows:

Trestle Salvaged Wood Dining Table
$3290
Handcrafted of substantial 2-1/2"-thick reclaimed timbers from a distillery in Great Britain
Rough-hewn, solid planks are carefully hand selected, planed and sanded smooth
Handsomely distressed and grandly sized to accommodate large gatherings
One-of-a-kind tabletop is unfinished and has the patina of reclaimed wood
Bearing the hallmarks of old wood, some nicks and imperfections are to be expected, including nail marks that reveal the table's provenance
Seats 12 with the 18" breadboard extensions, 8 without
Each piece is one-of-a-kind and quantities are limited
Dimensions: 108"L x 42-1/4"W x 30"H; two 18" leaves; extends to 144"L

I assumed the table was made in Great Britain. Erhm...WRONG. Made in China.

I was told by the RH Customer Service representative that the timber was shipped from Scotland to China for manufacturing.

This kind of kills my romantic vision of this table. I'm seriously considering cancelling my order. I've never purchased a piece of furniture manufactured in Asia. Will the craftmanship likely be poor? I was expecting an artisan made piece for that price. I know Restoration Hardware is not a top tier furniture company, but it was my understanding that their furniture was manufactured domestically. I suppose that has changed. So sad.

Do you all think it's wise to cancel my order and look elsewhere? Any ideas where I can source a table with some of the same features and the same look: unfinished reclaimed timber, elegant trestle base?

Thank you!

[drcollie]

I'd be glad to do a video, but I don't have any paste varnish nor a project that needs restoration right now, sorry. But its really easy. Get a cotton rag (an old cloth baby diaper is ideal), some medical latex gloves to wear, dip the rag into the paste varnish and 'push' it on the table surface rather than trying to coat it. More like you are scrubbing the top rather than laying down a coat.. You want the minimum amount of paste varnish on the table top, and the light refraction will show you any areas you missed. This is a quick procedure, if you take longer than 4 minutes to do it, you're fussing on it too much. That's all there is to it.

******

Real wood tables are not inexpensive. The stock itself is costly, and there can be $ 1,000 in raw materials in a thicker wood table out of a decent lumber before its even touched by a planer or a bandsaw. And that's wood at a jobber's cost. Consumer's have high price resistance to properly made pieces and as such, that's a market that has widely vanished and replaced by cheaply made tables from off shore of junk wood. Like it or not, most consumers decide on a price point first (i..e, "We will spend up to $ 2,500 for a table") and then go shopping to see what fits in that budget. They're not going to look at the $ 6,000 table, its not on their radar. Knowing that, mainstream furniture stores carry that price point item which by necessity they have to buy off-shore, from China, Vietnam, Philippines, etc. As a consumer you may ask "Where is it made?" Well, the sales droid doesn't really know and doesn't really care so they tell you want you want to hear. Then, later on you find the table isn't really what you thought it was and now feel mis-led. But the question I then have is twofold... 1) Did you research what makes a good table beforehand? 2) Did you even shop the $ 6,000 unit to see how its made? If not (and most don't) then you trusted the sales person's pitch and bought on price. Now, there is nothing wrong with staying within a budget, we all have to do that on things. However realize that you are going to get what you pay for, and those big heavy wood tables made in the USA the proper way are no more going to be purchased for $ 2,500 than someone is going to sell you a new Rolex for $ 1,000. Quality and proper build is going to cost "X" amount and the only way you can get under that price is the Craigslist used market.

An example, a few years ago a forum member wanted a Baker Table which was $ 45,000. Could we build her one for less? A copy? John Buchanan, my ace cabinetmaker said 'yes' and we bid the job at $ 20,000 as I recall. We used better materials than the Baker table, it took a 9 months to build it (it was a fancy table) and at the end of the job John went negative close to $ 3K on it, that's right - he lost money on it. I helped John out by funneling my profit on dealer back to him on it, but it just goes to show how difficult a decent table can be to build, and how expensive they are.

[SteveinHnl]

[QUOTE=drcollie;24749]I'd be glad to do a video, but I don't have any paste varnish nor a project that needs restoration right now, sorry. But its really easy. Get a cotton rag (an old cloth baby diaper is ideal), some medical latex gloves to wear, dip the rag into the paste varnish and 'push' it on the table surface rather than trying to coat it. More like you are scrubbing the top rather than laying down a coat.. You want the minimum amount of paste varnish on the table top, and the light refraction will show you any areas you missed. This is a quick procedure, if you take longer than 4 minutes to do it, you're fussing on it too much. That's all there is to it.

******

Thank you, Duane. I will try what you described. When you say "if you take longer than 4 minutes do do it," how much area are you referring to? Thanks, Steve.

[SteveinHnl]

Have you checked at the Bartley's website? They have application instructions under stain and varnish info in addition to a customer service phone number.

Actually, the reason I asked Duane is that he mentioned that this was a technique he learned from another cabinetmaker some years ago, and he also mentioned that most times folks tend to go overboard with the amount of paste varnish they apply. It sounded like this technique was a bit different from what the manufacturer tells everybody to do, and I want to make sure I get it as close to right as possible, since I only have one try. Thanks!