"Flaking" after finish....?

[Ryan Tea]

I am not even sure that I am using the right terms of "flake" or "shake" in the wood. So please excuse my lack of knowledge in advance.

I recently finished a Farmhouse Table and benches using reclaimed Chestnut from real old Amish barns. The wood looks beautiful, but considering the age of the material, I am having a little bit of concern after.

Enclosed in the pictures you can see this was spray finished with a poly. The wood was obviously milled and sanded many times over. Furthermore, I used West Systems epoxy to fill any knots, splits, or old nail holes. I also used (5) minute epoxy on some of the other places. The piece turned out great except for the fact that I have a couple spots that the wood has some "shake" in it. I have noticed that wearing a pair of pants sometimes catches the wood and starts lifting it which I know will eventually cause a large split.

Anyone have a similar experience and is there anything I can do to fix this? Maybe apply a small epoxy topcoat?

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[Jamie Buxton]

What you have is some unattached slivers of wood, with varnish on top of that. I'd try flowing superglue in behind the slivers, hoping to nail them down.

[Wayne Lomman]

I agree with Jamie. Use a razor blade to gently hold the sliver up and get some glue behind it. More coating whether epoxy or not will bridge over the top but won't hold a sliver down. Cheers

[Jim Becker]

I also agree with Jamie. You need to get something behind the "flakes" to stabilize them. This is unfortunately a common issue with reclaimed lumber...a bench I made last year had a similar "feature" and I had to get glue under the problem areas. Fortunately, I was able to do that prior to finishing, but had one spot where I had to go back and inject CA to fix something I missed.

[Jamie Buxton]

Next time you work with lumber that you suspect might have unattached slivers like this, take the lumber to near-finish state, then wet the surface. You don't have to soak it. Just use a sponge to get it damp. The slivers will absorb the water, and stand up away from the body of the wood. Glue 'em back down, re-sand, and you're good to go.

[Ryan Tea]

Next time you work with lumber that you suspect might have unattached slivers like this, take the lumber to near-finish state, then wet the surface. You don't have to soak it. Just use a sponge to get it damp. The slivers will absorb the water, and stand up away from the body of the wood. Glue 'em back down, re-sand, and you're good to go.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Jamie, I did indeed wet everything to raise the grain several times before my final finishing. But I never tried to glue again after that. I was hoping that the finish would just hold. Thanks for the tip that I can use next time! I guess like everyone said this just comes with the territory with old wood.

Between a 9 foot table (1 spot) and two benches to accompany (3 spots) I guess I will just be in for years of keeping an eye on it. When the wood originally looks like the below photo, I guess I should just be happy with what I got.....haha

Today I took the slivers and lifted them and tried to use 5 second glue to hold them down and not glue my fingers to the bench at the same time. It seemed to work great. Now I will just have to sand that small spot and refinish being extra careful.....

Sorry for the newb question, but where the hell did I get "shake" and "flake" from? Maybe Talledega Nights "Shake N' Bake!"


Thanks again!!

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