Oak Dining Table - refurb question

[westhamm]

Hi all,

I have a very solid Oak Dining Room table that needs a bit of refurbishment. Main issue though is that it has a strange panel type effect which, I am sure, looked nice when new but is far from practical as the gaps fill up with all sorts of debris!

You can see from the images that the table has a number of Oak panel inlays with a 3-4mm border (it can vary). Ideally I would like to fill this so it is flush and then refinish the entire table top.

Any ideas as to what can be done here - may be nice to have a darker colour inlay to fill in the gaps but conscious that the gap is not entirely uniform so this would look strange. May need to ensure the gap is uniform before I begin.

It would be great to have some suggestions as to how to deal with this including best option to refinish the entire table top?

Thanks in advance

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Though I don't have the exact same problem (ie gaps between the boards) I do have kids and to avoid the inevitable trashing of said table I got a sheet of toughened glass made to suit on the top, its held around the edges by some clear stick pads and does not move. The table looks as good as the day we bought it and really you don't see the glass, it also makes cleaning a doddle and makes a practical surface for any messy operations you may get up to on said table! Though I do take the glass off about once every 6 months as occasionally spills etc can kind of run onto the underside of the glass around the edges. There have been no accidents etc with the kids and the glass (and toughened glass is actually pretty robust anyway when inevitable things get dropped on it etc).

In about 20 years when the kids finally stop making a mess I can ditch the glasss!

No doubt the experts at wood re-finishing on the forum pipe up for solutions.

 

[westhamm]

Thanks for the reply - I guess I have left this particular option too late!

Great user name you have too - one of my all time hero's! Had the good fortune to meet him once and saw them in concert a number of times over the years.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

No it should be possible to get the table looking beautiful again so not too late.

I spelt Freddie's name wrong though when I first registered! Awesome to have met him!

 

[matz]

I would leave gaps as they are. Filling them will not look good (the filler will shrink) If you are stripping the top pre. refinishing, scrub those gaps with a scrubbing brush to get them totally clear and clean then refinish wth finish of choice ie polyurethane, oil , shellac etc. Ongoing upkeep would consist hoovering the gaps or further scrubbing with stiff brush to get the crap out!