This a steel table I made recently, the top was made of a 7 mm thick steel plate that had been laying around for over 15 years, so the rust nibbled in a nice pattern that appeared as I ground and polished the surface...
Nelson.

Edited April 4, 200917 yr by nelson

That is really beautiful.

How did you join the braces to the legs (picture 3)?

Very organic looking.

Don

Very unique. Nice table indeed.

Very nice. How much does it weigh?

beautiful, looks fairly heavy:D Find a good spot 'cause thats where its going to stay!:)

Hi Don,
The straps or braces, are just 1/2"x1/8" steel plate heated and wrapped around legs, just as you would if you were actually tying real bamboo with strips of leather or even flat vines as in a native way so to speak. Those straps and the legs to the top, all have plenty welding that you won`t see. The rustic and and organic look is my favorite. Nelson.

Thanks Element, ChrisB, and Chadj. Actually my guess is it weighs about 80 lbs, and it`s true we don`t move it around too often.Nelson.

I really like!

Love the lashings and old rust texture.

You can produce a similar deep rust texture by letting it scale heavily and wire brushing it off.

Very nicely done Nelson. Kudos.

Frosty

Frosty, I wish I could do what nature does so beautifully. There`s got to be a way that may come close by using acids, and protecting partially the steel to get irregular depressions in the metal here and there huh. Thanks . nelson.

Nelson, I really like you table! I usually don't care too much for tubing and wrapping, but the way you applied it and made it look like it would be joined with the natural material caught my attention. I'll bet you could have joined that with just the wrap. Good job!

Try putting a piece of steel in an oxidizing fire or heating it, pulling it out, reheating and pulling it out, at least 4-5 times, till it's got a heavy coat of scale on it. Then Hot brush the scale off and see what you think.

Frosty

I did a wine cellar gate that the customer wanted (rust)ic, so we left it outside during construction, and I sprayed every it with a weak bleach and water solution. It also rained a lot that week. We then wiped the entire gate down with brown wood stain, then clear-coat. It came out really nice because it made the real rust darker and put a lighter patina on the not so rusty areas. New steel to old in a week :)

Frosty,
That`s a real good idea. Nonetheless, the problem I had making this table was warpping due to the heat as I layed beads with arc weld to give it that texture you see on the thickness of the table. I had to clamp,suplement and heat many times to straigthen it. Big pain in the ..., and all that extra work must have accounted for 25% of the total time. After all the darn thing still ended up a bit warpped on top as one may notice lengthwise. Oh well, a bummer but I discovered how to avoid that problem: don`t do that kind of texturing LOL. Nelson.

Hey Dodge nice rustic gate. The most interesting thing about this table is the deep (bet.1-2 mm) irregular concave depressions caused by long exposure outdoors. Once ground and polished the rust cavities just look gorgeous according to people that see it. One thing I`d like trying is to use a strong acid after randomly protecting portions of metal till the acid eats to desired depth, then just follow the rest... Thanks. nelson.

Nelson, I really like it, the texture is great and it all works together.

That is really first rate work! I've seen how the bamboo is made and yours is very organic looking in comparison. The wraps are a nice touch too.

Thanks for the pictures!

Chad

Very nice indeed. How do you make the bamboo look for the legs and crossbars?

Nelson:

Another fast rust patina is peroxide and salt applied to hot steel. Typically the salt is dissolved but it can be sprinkled on and the peroxide sprayed over it. Dampening regularly till you achieve the depth and color you want, rinse and neutralize with baking soda. Seal.

I'll bet if you used rock salt instead of table salt it'd cause some serious pitting.

Excellent gate and patina Dodge.

Well done.

Frosty

Here you go Jeff. A video on making steel bamboo. YouTube - Making Steel Bamboo
Finnr

Finnr,
did you see that guy was in shorts?? egad, talk about potential, but the idea comes through on the vid for sure, grazi.

Thanks for the link Finnr. I thought that was pretty funny when I saw that he had on shorts also. Ahhhhh, living on the edge! Was that a Hofi hammer sitting on the anvil?

Hi Alwin,
Few finishes compete for that organic natural look, with rust contrasting with polished portions of metal. And what about having differents elements like bottle racks, tables, and "grape vine" gates and windows in a cellar or a restaurant just to mention some. It got to be a trip! Thanks Alwin. Nelson.

Chad,
as you may know, the process of bamboo is not difficult at all. What I`ve found out is that given the same variables, namely pipe, heat source, same device to fuller, etc, if you put to guys to make bamboo canes, they will come out different and depending on how much attention you pay to details, the outcome will show the quality and refinement of your work. Well, isn`t that how it goes for anything else? Don`t mean to bragg about anything, but for those younger guys who are starting, that may be a little advise to benefit from. THANKS. Nelson.

Finnr,
Thanks for the video, I couldn`t explain the process so well! I myself would have liked seeing this video to save a bit time and pipe from going into the scrap pile. You know, the hard part is not the bamboo, not the rust look, but to get a deep eaten up pattern. The picture doesn`t show the beauty of what nature did by itself. I tried to take a pic right from top but the light reflection and my poor photo taking abilities didn`t help. LOL. nelson.