Restore Heart Rimu Dining Table

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Restore Heart Rimu Dining Table

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cadman

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#1987735 3-Apr-2018 15:59

eracode: The steaming trick will never 100% reverse a dent or bruise - more like 70-80% but does a pretty good job.

Rubbish. I've done heaps of them in stain/oil quality joinery in timbers ranging from Western Red Cedar to Rosewood. Do it properly and even the person that did it will struggle to find where it was bruised.

eracode

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#1987739 3-Apr-2018 16:03

cadman:
eracode: The steaming trick will never 100% reverse a dent or bruise - more like 70-80% but does a pretty good job.

Rubbish. I've done heaps of them in stain/oil quality joinery in timbers ranging from Western Red Cedar to Rosewood. Do it properly and even the person that did it will struggle to find where it was bruised.

Oh - OK! Not my experience but I haven’t done it on the wide range of timber you have.

If any of the fibres have been torn, they are unlikely to return 100%.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

cadman

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#1987818 3-Apr-2018 18:35

eracode:
cadman:

eracode: The steaming trick will never 100% reverse a dent or bruise - more like 70-80% but does a pretty good job.

Rubbish. I've done heaps of them in stain/oil quality joinery in timbers ranging from Western Red Cedar to Rosewood. Do it properly and even the person that did it will struggle to find where it was bruised.

Oh - OK! Not my experience but I haven’t done it on the wide range of timber you have.

If any of the fibres have been torn, they are unlikely to return 100%.

Oh, yeah, well if it's effectively 'cracked' with broken and torn fibres you'll probably be looking at other options. But I've even got some pretty serious dents out at times - like 5mm deep and an area the size of a new 50c piece.

MikeAqua

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#1987985 4-Apr-2018 09:10

Heart rimu is soft when green but goes very hard as it dries. Hard enough to bend a 5 inch bright steel nail.

Rimu sap wood has a yellower colour and stays reasonably soft as it dries.

Harvey Norman's reference to heart rimu was probably a reference to its colour not a reference to the heartwood from a mature tree.

Mike

networkn

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#1987996 4-Apr-2018 09:17

MikeAqua:

Harvey Norman's reference to heart rimu was probably a reference to its colour not a reference to the heartwood from a mature tree.

It was more than twice the price of almost every other table there, a premium as a result of it's being "heart rimu". We will get someone around to take a look at restoration and see how we go.

MikeAqua

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#1988014 4-Apr-2018 09:35

networkn:

MikeAqua:

Harvey Norman's reference to heart rimu was probably a reference to its colour not a reference to the heartwood from a mature tree.

It was more than twice the price of almost every other table there, a premium as a result of it's being "heart rimu". We will get someone around to take a look at restoration and see how we go.

You also have to be wary of substitution with eponymous foreign timbers for example 'island kauri' is often sold as kauri. I'm not sure if there is a rimu equivalent, but I have a vague memory that there is.

I do think when someone advertises heart rimu in NZ they should expect the public to see that as meaning heart timber from mature NZ rimu trees.

Mike

eracode

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#1988051 4-Apr-2018 10:32

networkn:
MikeAqua:

Harvey Norman's reference to heart rimu was probably a reference to its colour not a reference to the heartwood from a mature tree.

It was more than twice the price of almost every other table there, a premium as a result of it's being "heart rimu". We will get someone around to take a look at restoration and see how we go.

If it turns out to not be heart rimu, what sort of compensation will you be expecting from HN - given that the table is now 11 years old? How can you demonstrate that you paid something like a 2x premium over other tables at the time? Could be tricky.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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networkn

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#1988054 4-Apr-2018 10:35

eracode:

If it turns out to not be heart rimu, what sort of compensation will you be expecting from HN - given that the table is now 11 years old? How can you demonstrate that you paid something like a 2x premium over other tables at the time? Could be tricky.

I wouldn't care so long as it's Rimu of any type. I think the price tag would stand up against current prices. I am not sharing the price, but it was eye-watering at the time. It's an amazing set, was happy to pay the amount, but was led to believe it was Rimu.

As to compensation, not sure, maybe nothing, but at the very least I'd be raising it with management as I consider it misleading.

eracode

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#1988058 4-Apr-2018 10:39

Thinking about the comment by @MikeAqua above - about ‘heart rimu’ being the stain colour rather than the timber species - that’s a pretty good point and quite possibly correct.

If he’s correct, you have a decent moral high-ground position with HN.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

SepticSceptic

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#1988153 4-Apr-2018 12:29

MikeAqua:

Rimu sap wood has a yellower colour and stays reasonably soft as it dries

If you look at the OP's photo's, the table legs look quite yellow-ish, so you are probably correct that it is rimu sap wood, and not heartwood.

Having worked with a bit of rimu heartwood in a table restoration, the wood itself is almost a light chocolaty-brown in colour.

mattwnz

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#1988199 4-Apr-2018 13:24

I have worked a lot with rimu, and even have heart rimu ceilings, and the photo looks like it could be rimu, but parts may not be heart. Very difficult to tell as you can get the colour from staining. Certainty heart is reasonably hard and resilient to dents. I have a cedar table, that dents very easily, but it has a great surface colour and texture. I haven’t worked with fading, as I haven’t encountered my rimu furniture ever fading, so not sure if it is easily removed with sanding. Maybe it is stained darker? Have you thought about buying the one in the auction, as it says it is in good condition and the price may not be much different to getting one restored, as it can involve many hours. I have restored a modern table before, but only hand sanded it. I suspect the difficulty with yours is the glass panel, and making sure both levels will be flush with one another after sanding, uniformly along the table. I am guessing the sections that are not rimu are easily removable. A lot of furniture these days from big box retailers isn’t particularly well made like the older stuff, so that can make it more difficult to disassemble etc, especially if they have used a lot of adhesives, so I would hope they haven’t used glues for the inset parts.

pctek

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#1988334 4-Apr-2018 18:29

networkn:

Yeah, it's dented. HN warned us at the time of buying it, and so did the manufacturer that it was a very soft wood prone to dents.

Then it isn't Rimu.

You can't nail rimu, it bends the nails.

You have to drill it first.

Built a woodshed out of recycled rimu once....man it was hard. Like trying to nail concrete.

mattwnz

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#1988347 4-Apr-2018 19:24

pctek:
Then it isn't Rimu.

You can't nail rimu, it bends the nails.

You have to drill it first.

It could be cheaper imported pacific Rimu, and stained. That is apparently lighter and softer. I suspect it may not be NZ rimu.

Fred99

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#1988912 5-Apr-2018 17:23

mattwnz:
pctek:

Then it isn't Rimu.

You can't nail rimu, it bends the nails.

You have to drill it first.

It could be cheaper imported pacific Rimu, and stained. That is apparently lighter and softer. I suspect it may not be NZ rimu.

Many profiles for architraves, skirtings etc are being sold as "rimu" - when they're pacific rimu.

There hasn't been much nz rimu around for quite a few years - apart from recycled. But there are (or were over recent years) plenty of tables etc made from recycled rimu.

Our house (1962 build) is heart rimu framing and t&g floors.

Of course you can still dent it.

I'm not sure why the big issue with resurfacing a heart rimu table. I have a 1.2x1.2m coffee table that I've resurfaced a couple of times with careful use of belt sander then finishing with random orbital then by hand. Have used Cabots oil-based finished in the past, but the water based finishes are now almost as durable, and as a matter of taste I prefer the finish which is a more natural wood colour than the reddish colour imparted when finishing heart rimu with oil-based finishes.

Have re-done some heart rimu floors that were moisture-cured urethane finish, the water based finishes look better IMO, they bring up the detail of the grain nicely, are a lighter colour, you don't need to evacuate the house when using the urethane, and they're very easily recoated when needed.

mattwnz

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#1989545 6-Apr-2018 15:00

My house has heart NZ rimu ceilings from the 70's. However when we came to doing an extension in the 90's, we had to get what they called fijian heart rimu due to the price of NZ stuff at the time. It is still pretty good, but it is noticeably different in colour and gain. Rimu is such an awesome timber, and my house framing is made from it, which they did back in the 50's...such a waste and I suspect a lot of it is ending up in landfills as houses are pulled down for high intensive development.

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