A friend that owns a metal recycling place (aka junk yard) gave me this wood.  They made a special trip from Massachusetts to Barnstead, NH (about 2 hrs away) to give this to me..  I asked what they expected me to do with it and they said just make something little for me. Hmmmmmm, OK???  1st photo is of the underside of the wood. And the other photo is of the top side.  My guess is it was used in a mechanics shop for a very long time.  I used a scraper to scrape off the heavy grease on both sides of the three boards.  They were about 2 inch thick by about 8 feet long…three of them that were bolted together.  Still stained with what I thought was oil, so I started with 4o grit sand paper which cleaned it up a little.  These are VERY heavy boards which I deemed to be hard maple.  Even after running them through my little planer, much of the stain remained.  The boards were so heavy, I decided to cut them in half as they were so difficult for me to pick up.  Well, I made a serving tray using this maple. I did leave a few of the small bolt holes and blemishes to try to preserve the history of the lumber.  No stain was used, but I did use a clear poly on it.  I did use an oil base poly, thinking there was still oil embedded in the wood.  Also this was the first time I used a new product (to me) …it’s a burn paste.  You apply it over a stencil, let it sit for about 3 minutes and use a heat gun to burn it.  It made the serving tray look like it was very old, which is what I was hoping for.  Really felt good getting back into the shop after so long.  Hopefully there will be more to come.  Oh, I also make a “rack” for keys and cubbyholes.  Not sure what it’s called.  Kind of a mature-ish, but it is what it is.  (photos from left to right) the underside of the boards. You can see the metal straps that held them together. The second photo shows how much grease and oil that was on all three.  The 3rd photo is the serving tray and them the key rack.

Great story Paul. Awesome creativity and repurpose of the material.  Your friend should be pleased with what you've made. Glad you're able to get back in the shop; great therapy. Thanks for sharing with us.

What Dave said! 

 

That burn paste is awesome! Looks like you did it with a laser!

44 minutes ago, lew said:

What Dave said! 

 

That burn paste is awesome! Looks like you did it with a laser!

It came out OK for the first time.  If you notice all around the lettering is darker, that’s because I’m a knucklehead and wiped away the dust after I lightly sanded it.  I should have used compressed air.  Thanks Lew.

Great work Pauley, Glad to see you back in the shop. I've had to end my woodworking days because of medical issues but have been at least enjoying the forums here,. A great bunch of guys here.

41 minutes ago, Al B said:

Great work Pauley, Glad to see you back in the shop. I've had to end my woodworking days because of medical issues but have been at least enjoying the forums here,. A great bunch of guys here.

Very sorry to hear this Al.  It’s good to be back and I’m going to try and keep it that way. The guys in this group are absolutely the best.

I've never heard of burn paste.  Looks interesting, I really like what you were able to do with it!

58 minutes ago, Cal said:

I've never heard of burn paste.  Looks interesting, I really like what you were able to do with it!

Thanks Cal.  It’s new to me, but it’s seems do a decent job.  I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong, but I use a heat gun to heat the paste, but it takes a while to start to burn.  I may have held the heat to close cause, well, I’m impatient.  When I tried it on a scrap piece of wood, once it was burned, it had bubbled a bit.  So I lightly sanded it and it gave it a vintage look.  Now, I’m thinking it may have been that maple I was using.  Being caked with oil and grease for about 20 - 25 years, when I was heating it I noticed a liquid coming from the wood. Not sure but that could have been some oil.  I don’t think it was water or sap, cause it checked the moisture content and it was 7%.