weathored oak and vanity build.

[jason lambert]

I have a frien that wants to know if I can build thei
http://www.restorationhardware.com/c...=1298044601493
Cheaper than it is to buy it.

So question one is do you think it i sworth it to build?

Question 2 is how do I get a weathored oak finish. Bleach or something? I have suppliers for red oak I woudl assume it is some sort of treatment.

[Rick Pettit]

That may be fumed oak?

[Peter Quinn]

Usually an A-B bleach based on sodium hydroxide is used to strip the color from the oak, then you add some back with a dye or dilute stain. How much bleach and how much stain depends on just how aged you want things to look. Often the wood gets wire brushed with a drum sander like machine to deepen the grains appearance , though you can do this by hand with a wire wheel on a drill.

Is the job worth it? Well that one depends on allot of things. How much do you want to pay your self and how fast sonyou work? Those Louvers are quick with the right slot mortiser, or can take a while with a router and shop made jig. The finish is somewhat time consuming as you have to apply bleach part a, wait, apply b, wait, neutralize with vinegar or mild acid, wait, rinse with water, wait.....well you get the idea. Don't under estimate the time spent fiiguring out a finishing schedule you don't know yet. Otherwise it looks pretty straight forward.

[Cody Colston]

The description says "hand sanded and hand applied weathered Oak finish." I think it's White Oak with a stain and it would probably be difficult to duplicate that color with Red Oak. Great design, though.

[Chip Lindley]

The vanity appears to be almost painted rather than stained, and the paint wiped off to leave a flat gray behind. Personally, I hate covering nice oak grain with any opaque coating, but that's just ME. I believe you could wipe on light gray porch paint, wipe it off, and get the same effect.

Ask your friend to consider YOU building the vanity per the photo and HE finish it to his own liking. That way he can't blame you for the weathering job. I would have to charge at least $1250 for that one--base only; no top. That is still wayy ahead of $2050 plus delivery.

Building the vanity will give you the excuse to build a nice louver jig for your router. The inset doors will be a challenge to line up correctly. All depends on your experience and skills, if you can actually make money or chalk it up to a learning experience.

[Peter Quinn]

So now I'm home zooming in on that photo on the big screen. My best guess? Nothing special going on there as far as finish. No bleach, just wire brushed white oak with a medium brown almost chestnut stain happening, and a finish between matte and satin. Possibly a combination dye/stain application? We have a wire brush in the flooring department at work and do a lot of that stuff for european clients right now, I guess its popular there presently, looks just like that stuff. You can pull it off with a wheel on a hand drill pretty effectively. Hand sanded artisan made blah blah blah? That is some marketing hooey not to be trusted, believed, or in any way accepted. Sounds better than "Run through giant drum sander that looks like a steel bristle street sweeper..." . Hands and sanding may have both touched that vanity, but its hardly a central feature. The wire brushing machine adds a texture almost like real barn wood, but barn wood often has little structural integrity left, so the wire brushed stuff is better to work with. If I were going to simulate that piece with red oak, I'd bleach it white to start to kick down those green and salmon tones which make golden and amber stains over red oak look so jaundiced . Or I'd just start with ash and skip a rather nasty step anyway. But try some color tests with white oak first, I'd guess its pretty much that.

[Brad Shipton]

I don't get the Restoration Hardware craze myself. I have some friends that absolutely love the stuff. One of my friends bought one of the carts and when I looked at it I thought quietly to myself, nice hardware, but I dunno about this stuff they call woodwork. It looks like a lot of great marketing for people that want antiques without doing any work. I hope you take on the project and report your finishing trials and tribulations. This would be a good finish to have in the old bag of tricks. I think best you might break even on this project, but maybe you will make it on the next ones. Some of this stuff is growing in popularity.

Peter, don't go into marketing, you'll go broke.

Brad

[John TenEyck]

Matching a finish is almost always a PITA. You can spend at least 30% of your hours doing it, or at least I do. With that in mind, I'd guess I'd have to charge at least $1800 for it, finished. BTW, I did a red oak fireplace mantel that I wire brushed with a hand drill. I did it on the boards after planing, before cutting out the parts. Pretty fast and easy to do, but dusty for sure. After the client stained and finished it it looked like an old weathered beam. Pretty cool actually.