How can anyone not love the knots, grain and perfect imperfections of real wood, it just knocks laminate or any fake replacements into a cocked hat everytime. Of course, it’s not practical for every job and can be cost prohibitive on large pieces of furniture, especially in the rental market, but it’s such a delight to use whenever circumstances allow.

When we moved into our wreck of a home, it had been rented out and not touched since the 80’s. It had a curious bed deck construction that had been cobbled together from a zillion different offcuts of timber, most of which couldn’t be re-used, but when we dismantled it, there were a few interesting looking slices which I saved for a rainy day – five years later! This piece below was filthy and roughly varnished so I stripped and sanded it back to use as a shelf on the tenants roof terrace we’ve been working on.

Paint mostly removed to reveal the grain beneath

After a good going over with my new belt sander, I popped it on a thick baton on the wall next to the bbq table:

Sanded but looking a bit pale and uninteresting

Once sanded it was looking a bit Nicole Kidman and I wanted more of a Jennifer Aniston golden glow – soon achieved with a couple of coats of clear, satin finish, external varnish which brought out the beautiful grain in the wood – huge difference huh? Good job I did these before Mr M got to work on the Banana Bench…. and melted the NEW sander. Men!

Shelf finished and varnished