Justin Hawkins

I was walking in a nearby street one morning, it was hard rubbish collection day. The usual collection of terrible disposable furniture and electronics was present.

But then I found two tables, that seemed in quite good condition. Good enough to take a chance on, so I decided to drive my car back, pick them up and see if I could give them a new life.

two wooden tables, sitting on the verge at the side of the road — Two tables [4172x3071 px]

Two tables, viewed from above. One is slightly smaller than the other and has a screwdriver resting on it — Got them home [4958x3465 px]

Both tables are structurally fine. The smaller one was very wobbly, but it is well made and the fittings just needed tightening.

Both are obviously well used, and the larger one has a polyurethane coating which is coming off in flakes.

I’ve decided to ignore the larger table for now, and restore its more beautiful (sorry larger table) younger brother.

The legs of a table, the tabletop has been removed. There is routed inlaid detail on the legs. — Leg detail [3024x4032 px]

The legs have some routed inlaid detail, which I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to deal with at this point.

Tabletop on a sawhorse, ready for sanding — Ready to sand [3965x4115 px]

The tabletop itself is super easy though, sand it until I’m happy.

A tabletop on a sawhorse, freshly sanded to raw wood — And sanded [5245x3241 px]

Easy, and very satisfying - but….

Close-up of the tabletop, showing a gouge in the wood — Ugh [3024x4032 px]

This gouge is quite small, but it is annoying me. It’s perhaps 1mm deep and I don’t want to sand an entire mm of material off the tabletop.

I also don’t want to fill it, it’ll be very obvious if I do.

I decide to ignore it.

Underside of a tabletop, partially sanded back to raw wood — Now for the bottom [3868x4479 px]

More sanding. Noisy and messy but otherwise uneventful.

Table standing on a wood floor in the sunlight — How is it going? [3024x4032 px]

I put it back together temporarily for a photo shoot and to get an idea of the contrast between the old stain and the raw wood. I think it’s going to look good.

Table legs and structural frame, disassembled and placed on another table — Let's get this over with [4267x2967 px]

I pull the rest of the table apart and prepare to sand the more difficult parts.

Table leg on sawhorse, held in place with clamps — Laborious [4284x5712 px]

Four legs, four sides on each, three grits of sandpaper.

Plus tricky curved bits to do.

This takes the most time.

four table legs on the ground, sanded to bare wood — Sanding done [2249x2878 px]

It was satisfying in the end. As you can see, I decided to deal with the inlaid parts by completely ignoring them. The contrast is fun and obviously there is no wear on those parts of the wood.

all the parts that make up a table, but not assembled — I'm over sanding [4093x3234 px]

Ready for finishing.

four table legs, hanging on a hook, they have been coated in tung oil making them look slightly darker — First coat of tung oil [4184x4719 px]

I’m using tung oil because it’s non-toxic (actually food safe, not that I’m going to be eating right off this) and doesn’t stink up the house so I can do this indoors.

It does smell, but it’s not unpleasant and pretty much confined to the laundry.

table legs hanging on hooks, slightly darker from multiple coats of tung oil — Nearly there [3468x4180 px]

I think 3 coats of tung oil are done at this point. Not pictured - oiling the tabletop.

The contrast between the original stain and the newly oiled finished actually looks really great.

I leave around 24 hours between coats where possible.

small table, standing against a wall — Finished product [3024x4032 px]

I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Can you see the gouge? Me neither. It’s detectable with fingertips but otherwise it’s unnoticeable.

Tags: woodwork table oil

Portfolio and personal site