# Barnwood Projects



## henryriverfarms

Since I am not planting 3 acres of produce this year it has freed me up to get back to some woodworking.

This is a couple of the barn wood projects I just completed. Made from salvaged barn wood from our other farm. The wood is over 100 years old.

Coffee table and hall tree.


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## cfuhrer

Oh my!


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## Jokarva

Gorgeous. 

I love repurposed wood, pallets (the good hardwood kind) are my favorite source. Would love old barnwood, but the kind we have around here is made of gold apparently.


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## henryriverfarms

Yes, barn wood cost is getting a little crazy. I had a old outbuilding collapse and currently salvaging wood from it. I am also re-purposing items.

I took a desk and made a kitchen island for my son. Also an old door for my wife into a wall table.


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## nataliewalsh

Very talented


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## Cabin Fever

Very nice. I love that old tobacco barn wood. 

I did something a while back to simulate old barn wood for a bench I made out of recent rough sawn oak boards. What I did to simulate vintage barnwood was lightly paint the wood with a dark brown spray paint. Then I sanded the wood so just the circle saw marks had the paint in them. Then, I varnished the wood with a pecan varnish stain. IMHO, it resembles vintage barnwood.


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## henryriverfarms

Looks great. I will sand the barn wood a little to bring out the saw marks.

I will soon do as you, sawmill lumber and paint or stain to resemble barn wood.


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## willowworker

wow. All are very nice.


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## Heritagefarm

That's some nice looking barn wood. I have an old barn myself, but I'm afraid to use any of the word because you can generally poke holes in it. :hrm: The people before me didn't treat it very well, unfortunately.


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## rininger85

how about fake-barnwood-projects? I just did this over the past week... we had an old metal railing in our house, the bars are about 6" apart so needed to do something to babyproof it as our little guy is 3 months old and starting to figure out how to crawl it won't be long before he is mobile... so we screwed fake barnwood to the metal railings to babyproof them... I still need to build the gate for the stairs but it will be the same stuff.


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## warrpath4x4

We have an old "building" on our land that will be torn down next summer, planning on doing some projects with the saved wood, old T&G planks. Not sure how old but the house is 1948 so probably not long after that.


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## rininger85

I built the gate for our stairs last night. Not perfect, but it looks pretty decent. Put a "kitty door" in, should be babyproof at least for the crawling stage, but probably not "kiddy proof" once he starts walking... we'll see how much we have to tell him to stay away from it at that point if I need to cover the door or not.


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## henryriverfarms

Made a couple of other things since the last post. All barn or reclaimed wood.


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## LuLuToo

You guys do beautiful work. I have an old piano which I want to repurpose. It is the piano my parents bought new for me when I was 5 years old and has a lot of sentimental value. Kohler-Campbell electric player. I have considered using the sound board and keys for some type of sculpture or embedding the keys in a table top. Any ideas on utilizing the wood? I'm open to any ideas on using any part of it, but do want it to last. So, not putting it outside in the garden, etc. We are planning to build our retirement home within the next two years. Thanks!

LuLu


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## henryriverfarms

Go to Google images https://www.google.com/search?q=rep...X&ved=0ahUKEwiTvsGvpvbQAhVEQCYKHY9-AuQQsAQIGg Lots of ideas to re-purpose a piano. We have an old organ bought at an auction many years ago that I plan to turn into a table/bookcase.


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## thestartupman

Henryriverfarms, could you explain your finishing techniques in detail? What kind of product do you use? How do you apply it? Do you Finish before or after assembly? Maybe you could share some process type of pictures?


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## thestartupman

By the way, all your items look really great.


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## thestartupman

Cabin Fever, I like what you have done with trying to copy the old barn would look. Where these boards truly cut with a circular sawmill, or did you use a grinder or something to get the saw looking marks?


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## Cabin Fever

thestartupman said:


> Cabin Fever, I like what you have done with trying to copy the old barn would look. Where these boards truly cut with a circular sawmill, or did you use a grinder or something to get the saw looking marks?


They were cut with a circular sawmill.


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## henryriverfarms

thestartupman said:


> Henryriverfarms, could you explain your finishing techniques in detail? What kind of product do you use? How do you apply it? Do you Finish before or after assembly? Maybe you could share some process type of pictures?


I will do my best to describe my technique. Maybe on my next project I can take a few more pictures.

The barn wood coffee table and hall tree at the top of this thread has no stain. I just used polyurethane. What I do with barn wood to bring out the saw marks is sand with 80 grit paper to bring out the natural color of the wood. I just go by eye and do not sand but just enough to bring the saw marks out. The wood is still rough.

On these two pieces I brushed the poly on, about 4 coats, sanding between each coat. When the final coat is applied it should be very smooth. If not or if the sheen is too high I use 00 steel wool to smooth it out. Sometime if you can see the wool marks or it dull I will rag or buff the sheen to the level I like.

The last two pictures of the sofa table and hall tree was done different.

The sofa table was sanded smooth; stain was chosen and applied with a rag. I always apply stain with a rag. 
The oak legs on this table have no stain. I used a clear coat water base Spar-urethane or Polycrylic with a brush. This product is clear unlike polyurethane which has an amber color and will change the color of the wood slightly.

Spar-urethane and polycrylic is crystal clear even though it has a milky color in the container. It clean up with water, dries fast, and also allows paints to expand underneath it. It also does not crack or yellow like polyurethane does when exposed in the sun. I use the water base for all outdoor projects including my barn quilts.

The oak and black hall tree: I used black milk paint, and chose a stain for the oak. I also used the water based polyâs to seal, 3 coats. I assembled after paint and stain on this project. Mainly because it is always better to apply the sealer you chose, in my case water based poly, when you can lay parts flat. This way you can apply heaver coats and not worry as much about runs. If it had been summer I would have most likely use polyurethane but due to cooler weather the water base dries quicker.

I sometimes do a story board with different stains depending on the wood. This way it is easier to see which stain I like best and which one bring the grain of the wood out or it helps me decide if I want to use any stain at all.

I sometimes us lacquer, tongue oil, and other finish methods, but the finish is what makes the piece in most cases. So always sand before stain or sealer with the grain, sand between the sealer coats and donât get in a hurry. If unsure of the stain choice use a scrap piece of wood from the project and do a story board. If you want the natural finish of barn wood you can leave it as is or just use a clear coat or polyurethane.

Donât know if this is what you wanted so if not let me know and I will try to answer.


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## po boy

Cabin Fever said:


> They were cut with a circular sawmill.


That's nice, what kind of blade did you use??


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## po boy

My wife bought the place we live on in 1978 and there is old house on the property that had stacks of tongue and grove salvaged wood in one of the rooms. It's also so the walls and two lean too are framed with 3 of them stacked together. 

I dragged a lot of them out and washed and dried good and made 4 end tables, a coffee table and a tv stand.


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## CountryMom22

Beautiful work!


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## FarmChix

I love it all! We have a small barn on one of our properties. A local guy offered me $50 for it so he could use the wood. Hubs laughed. It would seem that Hubs is going to use it to make my farm table and some doors. I didn't even respond to the $50 offer.


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## henryriverfarms

Just finished cutting and welding a bed frame to make a bench.


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## romysbaskets

This is a great thread! For Christmas my daughter wanted Shabby Chic decor...that entailed those old wood windows with chipped white paint...an old drying rack, old strawberry picking basket, old metal stars that were used to decorate a barn, an old milk can with hues of green and blue, and an iron fleur de lis piece in white chipped paint. She really wanted a barn door but those are not affordable here so she found an old wood door with faded blue paint that has a lot of panes in it...so that is for her birthday. I love the stuff you are making on this thread and also Cabin Fever!


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## Scape

A few things we have made from old siding and barn door.


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## henryriverfarms

Since it has been too wet to plant I made a few more things. My wife bought me a lathe so I have been practicing turning.


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## po boy

Very Nice


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## Dances In Woods

I have a king sized headboard for bed out of old barn wood. My husband at the time & I were riding around the old back roads around here & found an old long abandoned barn. Found out who the owner was & asked for permission if we could salvage some of the wood...the old man said Take all you want...lol The wood is really thick, grey & heavy...its solid. We just stacked the planks next to each other & high on the sides & even used the original nails so everything was authentic. We didn't sand it down, just left it rough/rustic. Took to the carwash & pressure washed it & Voila...everybody loves it. That booger is a pain to move tho...takes 2 people. The old farmer said it was over 100yrs old. Wouldn't trade it for anything


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## GTX63

Too late for pics tonight but we have done everything from barnwood farm tables to photo frames. 
Just get the hog smell out of the wood first.


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