wood dining room table without watermarks and blemishes?

[Anonymous]

I want to get a wood dining room table, but I'd rather not have to protect it with table clothes/table pads -- and I'm pretty sure my crew would not be religious about placemats. So... is there any type of wood that's particularly durable so that we could place glasses/plates directly on it without creating a bunch of water stains? Or, is there any way to treat wood so that I don't have to worry about damaging it?

(I'm looking at a vintage rosewood table, for what its worth.)

[Anonymous]

Yep, you just have to finish it with polyurethane. It's not totally heat resistant (nothing is), but it protects against moisture. You can do it yourself-- requires stripper and rubber gloves and lots of elbow grease to remove the old finish before applying the new one, but I've done it myself a few times and it's very satisfying work. Or of course you can send it to a professional.

As for scratches, I don't know about the hardness of rosewood. You can google that.

[Anonymous]

I have a mahogany dining table with a glass top. I bought it from someone and it was already done. Probably it was custom and I have no idea how much that would cost. We use it for our every day dining and I love how easy it is to clean up. We've also used it for formal dinners and it actually makes for a very nice look--the glass reflects all the settings.

[Anonymous]

http://www.modernrust.com

We bought a fabulous dining room table that is beautiful and totally family proof. We absolutely love it. They use reclaimed wood and non-toxic green stains and finishes. It is our everything table, but also looks lovely when we dude it up with china etc for a formal dinner (not often, but it does happen!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.modernrust.com

We bought a fabulous dining room table that is beautiful and totally family proof. We absolutely love it. They use reclaimed wood and non-toxic green stains and finishes. It is our everything table, but also looks lovely when we dude it up with china etc for a formal dinner (not often, but it does happen!)

Not the OP. The Modern Rust stuff looks great, I love the idea. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

You know, we got a wood table from World Market and I was terrified of water marks, etc. We used to be religious about place mats and table cloths, but 2 toddlers later and I haven't seen a place mat in years. My table is still impeccable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.modernrust.com

We bought a fabulous dining room table that is beautiful and totally family proof. We absolutely love it. They use reclaimed wood and non-toxic green stains and finishes. It is our everything table, but also looks lovely when we dude it up with china etc for a formal dinner (not often, but it does happen!)

OMG you put this ugly stuff in your dining room? I'd rather have something from a used furniture shop than a picnic table in my dining room.

[Anonymous]

Buy a used, Danish solid teak dining table off of Craigslist. You can oil it with teak oil, edible mineral oil, or beeswax whenever the wood gets a bit light. For really bad water stains--because frankly, any solid wood with water standing on it for extended periods of time will absorb the water--you can use extra-fine steel wool and then rub in the oil/wax.

Polyeurethane is a good idea, but it can yellow with age and flake off.

[Anonymous]

No to teak! At least not oiled. I have a teak dining room table, and followed all the purist advice about oiling it for years. It looked like HELL. You could scarely breathe on it without it marking up. I finally re-did it (again), this time with a low-gloss polyurethane. It's much more durable now. I don't worry about the flaking problem, because I expect that any solid wood tabletop will have to be refinished every 10-20 years or so. That, and I've never seen it happen.

And of course you could go the glass top route, but I don't really like that look. Reminds me of grandmother's house, and executive desks. Not a livable look, in my opinion.