u/ReapsTwo

Hello!

Context: I bought a secondhand butcher block countertop that I am planning to use as a desk top in my office. It came with a DIY poly coat that has yellowed quite a bit and is pretty uneven around the edges. I want to remove the yellowed coating and refinish with a stain/sealant that is moderately resistant to moisture (like from a cold drink) and requires little to no recurring maintenance. In the first photo, the larger slab shows the yellowed poly – the smaller slab is an offcut of the large one, and shows what the unfinished underside looks like in comparison. I am planning to test sanding methods and finishes on the smaller slab before starting to work on the large one.

Sanding: I've got a large orbital sander that I was planning to use to remove the poly. I was going to work my way up sanding with the grain from 80 to 150/180 before attempting to finish, but I'm not sure if this is the best/most efficient way to remove the poly. I've also got a carbide scraper, but I'm guessing I'm less likely to put any deep marks in the surface with the orbital.

Finishing: I'll be trying to get close to matching the swatch in the 2nd photo (Thuma's Walnut finish), but I have no idea what the best approach is. It seems like I don't want to sand past 180 pre-application, and I think I should be sanding lightly between coats with 220 – is that correct? I'd welcome any reccs for specific products & methods, your preferences etc. I am looking for a satin finish as opposed to glossy.

TLDR: Looking for advice – planning to remove heavy poly coat with orbital 80 -> 180, then finishing with a stain & moderately resilient satin finish that requires little maintenance. Does not need to be food safe.

Thanks for taking the time to read and sharing any tips/guidance :)

Hello All!
I went digging in storage recently and found a couple of printed Vollebak items that some of you may not have seen before. Thought it would be fun to share them here.

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The first in the album is a product catalogue of sorts. It was produced by Vollebak's in-house designer at the start of 2022. I was told that it was "sent to some of our best customers as a fun gift" which was pretty neat to hear at the time, but also made me scratch my head as my collection was really just getting started in 2022.

I'm a designer by trade so I really appreciated how thoughtfully it was put together. It's premium in materials and construction, and feels very much elevated a way that matched the product quality I had come to expect from Vollebak at the time. Some of the high-quality photo prints really are striking and make the gear look so much better than it does on a screen.

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The next piece in the album is something you may remember – the first edition of the Vollebak Newspaper that was produced in the summer of 2023. These were sent out as part of an open call for customers and fans who wanted to help distribute them far and wide around the world. I've got a handful of copies of the newspaper, so keep an eye on the sub as we may give away a few of them in the future ◡̈

Despite the ephemeral and fragile nature of the newsprint these were printed on, once again, they were a really nice product and development showcase. Like the catalogue, they feature a lot of large-format, full color printing. Unlike the catalogue, (and more appropriately), there's a lot more to read here!

Some of the highlighted stories include Vollebak Island, the development and production of then-new Aerogel Jackets, Mars gear (hoodies, jacket & pants), the Mars billboard project, and a behind the scenes look at the development of the Thermal Camouflage Jacket.

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Have you seen both of these pieces before, or is this your first look? Did you deliver a round of newspapers somewhere exotic? Tell us in the comments and if you're also a collector of Vollebak ephemera, show us what you've got!

Images 🔗

Looks like an email just went out about a revised Planet Earth Shirt! I was a big fan of the first version, and these look sweet as well. Will be available in Khaki and Black, with Pricing TBA.

From Vollebak:

The original Planet Earth Shirt was designed to take on extreme environments. The Planet Earth Shirt 2 is designed to take on time. It's a pared-back evolution of the original – more material science, more reinforcement and fewer potential failure points.

It's engineered to take long-term wear, repeated stress and life without careful handling. It's not indestructible. But it is designed to fail very, very slowly. And probably outlast you.

We built it with Twaron, a para-aramid fibre used in body armour, aerospace parts and industrial systems where material failure has life-and-death consequences.

Para-aramids are around 5 times stronger than steel and highly resistant to long-term fatigue.

That strength doesn't come from thickness or mass. It comes from molecular order. Twaron's polymer chains are highly aligned and tightly bonded, forming a structure that resists stretching, tearing and slow deformation.

Unlike conventional fibres, it doesn't creep, sag or lose integrity with repeated loading. Which is why it's trusted to stop bullets and protect spacecraft.

We weave those para-aramid fibres into a dense, non-stretch material in Italy, blending them with polyamide and cotton to create something light enough for daily wear, but engineered to age slowly.

We've deliberately avoided elastane. Stretch fibres feel forgiving early on but sag over time. This material does the opposite. It resists movement at the fibre level, so the shirt keeps its shape and structure year after year.

Strength also means very little if a material can't survive friction. So we tested the material using the Martindale abrasion test, the standard lab method for simulating long-term wear.

Where a typical apparel material might fail at around 20,000–30,000 revolutions, the material used in the Planet Earth Shirt 2 was tested to 100,000 revolutions. And passed. That's a century's worth of rubbing, movement and contact without structural breakdown.

Durability doesn't stop at the material. The shirt is built with twin-needle stitching throughout, reinforced bartacks at high-stress points, French-seamed underarms and a double back yoke for structural stability.

These are slow, traditional construction techniques, but they dramatically increase resistance to seam failure over time.

We also removed one of the most common failure points entirely. Instead of buttons, the shirt uses metal snap fastenings at the placket, cuffs and collar. They're faster to operate, more resistant to wear and far less vulnerable to thread fatigue.

Twin chest bellows pockets expand under load rather than pulling against the material. The collar is reinforced to hold its shape whether worn open or fully closed. And despite its toughness, the material is softened with a controlled wash so it's comfortable from day one.

Just an appreciation post for my favorite Apple Watch case. Shown here with a Lunar Grey strap from Nomad Goods for maximum space-age NASA vibes 🚀