Questions tagged [refinishing]
Techniques, tools, products and safety related to removing finish from a piece and reapplying a new finish.
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Prep for refinishing shellacked dining room table
I was gifted with a dining room table whose top is now worn enough that it's probably worth refinishing. Current evidence is that it's finished with shellac, though I need to make sure I'm not just ...
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3
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Help IDing what the type of wood finish this is
The project is to renew these handrails, but I found it hard to figure out which type of finish this is. I sanded a part of wood, tried various finishes:
Interior wood varnishes (all kinds: gloss, ...
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Is it possible to smooth over sides of re-finished area?
This will be a very basic question, but I'm not sure I trust Googled results. For example, there is a suggestion that I "feather out" polyurethane finish; my experience tells me that it is ...
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What finish is this and how can I fix after bad coffee accident…?
I just had a pretty bad friday morning coffee spilling experience and the coffee seem to have ruined the surface finish of two of my kitchen chairs:
Either the heat or the acid in the coffee caused ...
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2
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Could there be lead in the finish of a mid-century piano?
I have an old british piano from the 1950s with some kind of varnish/lacquer/shellac finish. I wasn't thinking and sanded it down (which messed it up but that's another story), and now I'm worried I ...
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Used paint stripper on interior trim, wood now looks stringy. Is this repairable?
This trim is 60 years old and had at least 6 different layers of paint which resulted in it being difficult to see the delineation between the multiple layers of trim.
I used smart strip. It worked ...
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1
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Why won't stripper remove the finish on this bamboo desktop (from Fully/Jarvis company)?
I bought a Jarvis/Fully bamboo desktop and am trying to darken the finish. To do this, I first want to remove the existing finish. But I am having issues with doing so.
Note: pictures are at the ...
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Blotchy finish on Walnut table refinished with Danish Oil
I have a walnut table from Room and Board that I love, but after ten years it was quite scratched up and the finish was lifting in places. I have never done this before, but after not being able to ...
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If I remove old finish from wood, is the wood food-safe?
I recently came into possession of a large maple butcher-block style countertop, which previously was used as a desktop. I don't know the full history of the wood, but it has some sort of finish on it....
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Patchy and blotchy wood! HELP
Hi all!
This has been my first experiment into restoring furniture and so far it hasn’t been a success.
I started out by using wood stripper and I did a few coats and it was very hard to get off and ...
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What's a good way to lighten the colour of this chair, returning it to a natural-wood appearance?
I bought these secondhand cross-back chairs and I think they look great. However I think they will look even better if they have a brighter colour.
I'm looking to suggestions for easy ways to make ...
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Advice for retouching old oak/maple furniture at home [finish losses]
I am reframing a question from before as my requirements have changed.
I have found a great old oak table and chair set which the neighbours wanted to get rid off. The table has a manufacturer label ...
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Can I touch up old oak chairs and tables using Howard's Restor-A-Finish?
I have found a great old oak table and chair set which the neighbours wanted to get rid off. It is well used but in good condition. The photo below shows the wear and tear the set has had over years (...
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Refinishing a scratched mahogany veneer vanity
I am new to refinishing and slowly working on some pieces of furniture. I am currently refinishing a vintage vanity comprised of mahogany veneer. I now have a bunch of scratch marks in the veneer that ...
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Re-finish water-based polyurethane tabletop without having to sand again
Two years ago I sanded back my mid century table top and refinished with varathane water based polyurethane. I placed a 1 1/2 mm thick clear plastic protector over the top.
This has produced what I ...
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Can I spray Minwax water based polyurethane clear satin?
I sprayed a water based polyurethane (Minwax) on a lot of cabinets, but it was about 15 years ago. It was relatively noxious, but it sprayed great out of my inexpensive HVLP gun and compressor. I'm ...
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Darken new wood for refinishing to match existing older wood?
I am refinishing a floor, but there is new maple being installed alongside 20 year old maple. The problem with this that the old maple, even after it is sanded, will probably be a little darker than ...
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Good methods for scuffing/sanding ready-built furniture with contours for repainting
FYI - I am in the UK
I am wanting to do a few upcycling jobs on pieces of furniture that have some interesting compound curves and details (think of beaded panel doors etc). My goal is to paint them a ...
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Can resin or epoxy be poured over a poly finish?
I pulled the tile out of my dining table and replaced it with multiple wooden slats that I torched, sanded, then stained. The valleys in the grain are amazing and I left a smooth board in the center ...
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Proper way to re-oil a wood swim deck?
I’ve had the swim deck pictured below on my boat for a few summers now and the finish is getting pretty faded. I bought some teak oil to re-oil (right term?) it, but I’m unsure if I should just apply ...
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Antique Danish Oil is still sticky months after application. How can I get it to cure?
I refinished a softwood tabletop using Minwax Red Oak 215 stain and Circa 1850 Antique Danish Oil. I've waited over 6 months and the oil is still sticky/tacky! We're talking post-it note levels. I ...
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How to remove a heavy wire-brushed finish?
I bought a (solid) 32x70in white oak dining table that has a pretty heavily wire-brushed finish, something like:
The crevices extend over 1mm below the surface.
It's really quite impractical as food/...
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Refurbishing Posts & Beams in a Modern 1954 House
I'm trying to refurbish the posts and beams in my house. They're quite beat up in some spots and have water damage streaks in the existing finish(es) in others, so I've decided to strip the existing ...
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fixing water spots on boiled linseed finish
I learned recently that boiled linseed is not a great finish when exposed to any amount of water. I have a piece near a sink that gets a few drops now and then, and these have become lighter spots due ...
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Varnish rubbing off on my desk
So I restored an old family desk at home. Replaced the mouldings around the edges of the drawers, changed the handles and upholstered the cloth that sat on the desk.
I sanded down and stained the desk ...
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1
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Efficiently staining a White Cedar Fence
I'm looking to stain my outdoor yard fencing. The white cedar fencing is about 12 yrs old, in good shape, and is now a light grey color. What would be the most efficient way to stain the fence? I ...
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Stain lifting when refinishing antique maple door
I am refinishing an antique interior door for our bedroom.
I scraped off the old varnish type finish, maybe shellac, and sanded to bare wood (220 grit).
I applied oil based "Old Masters" ...
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2
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2
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Overpainting corner hutch
I would like to refinish the inside of a corner hutch. Below are images of the current condition.
Click on image for a larger version of the image.
Click on image for a larger version of the image.
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Repairing damaged indoor teak furniture
I have a teak console that was damaged by friend who had it stored in their house.
This damage was caused by water rings.
And this was caused by melted wax from a candle!
I've scraped the wax off ...
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Tack cloth stickiness
I finished a table using miniwax and tung oil. After three layers of tung oil, I lightly sanded and then used a tack cloth to remove the dust. The top is now sticky. How do I remove the stickiness ...
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Refinished old door looks awful, nothing like I expected! How to fix?
I had my interior doors dipped a couple years ago and have been gradually staining them (using gel stain and gel varnish). They don't look perfect, but I think they're really pretty (see first two ...
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Do I need to strip my wood?
I'm painting a guitar using acrylic paints - Daler-Rowney system 3. I sanded off the old finish on the guitar, and have spray painted it white, before applying multiple coats of paint. I noticed, ...
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Can I glue back a piece of black lacquer finish onto my piano leg?
I have a piano with a black lacquer finish. A piece of the finish has chipped off one of the legs. I have the piece that has been chipped off and can fit it into the damaged part perfectly. Is ...
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Recycling wood based on the level of treatment
I will start this question with an apology if it's not a good way to ask for what I am looking for (woodworking recycling).
I try to find a way to recycle used furniture, based on the level of ...
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Unremovable white powdery residue after wet sanding wood
I'm new to woodworking and know very little, so apologies if this is an extremely basic question or I'm doing something completely wrong. Recently I've tried to sand away a few imperfections on a ...
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How to take care of an antique wood cabinet
I have an antique cabinet that my grandfather built decades ago and I want to preserve it.
I don't think he has done anything to preserve the wood so I should probably do some work on it. I would ...
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Finishes over mineral oil
Over the past few days I have been refinishing a cedar chest. I used stripper and a razor blade to remove most of the old finish before starting to sand. I sanded it up to 600 grit.
I was reading ...
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How to find replacement body paint for Record #07 handplane
Question
I'm restoring a Record #07 hand plane (see Images section below). I
plan to use electrolysis to clean the rust out of the nooks and
crannies, and I suspect doing so might also attack the ...
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How to correct water based stain dried streaky
I am staining a wood table which I believe might be oak. The table has been sanded to 150 grit and pre-conditioned with water based Minwax product.
Last night we applied water based Minwax stain. ...
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2
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Outgassing of oil-modified polyurethane
We recently (a month ago) had our oak floors refinished with Precision Oil Modified Polyurethane. The odor has diminished substantially, and I hardly notice it at all any more, except sometimes when I ...
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Remove old oil stains from oak table before refinishing
I've bought an oak table to give it a second life as our dining table, our plan is to refinish it with (hardwax) oil.
It was quite stained and originally treated with some kind of oil. So my ...
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Can I remove existing wood finishes using a jointer or planer without damaging the cutting knives?
From time to time I get hold of a piece of a salvaged wood stock that has been previously finished. If it is a good species, I would like to reuse it, but have always been concerned about removing ...
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How to re-seal a kitchen chair seat
Long story short here of several rookie mistakes that have led me to this question...I have a couple of kitchen chairs that I refinished recently. I chalk-painted everything but the seats, and left ...
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Removing shiny poly from Aromatic Cedar to restore natural appearance
I recently purchased some beautiful bedroom furniture which is all solid aromatic cedar.
The exteriors of each piece (such as drawer faces and the visible surfaces of the bed frame) are all covered ...
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What glaze or surface treatment to repair this bar?
I have a bar that has a corner that was damaged in a move:
It seems as if the wood underneath the finish is MDF. But, how do I identify what the finish is that was used here, so that I can identify ...
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35 year old D.R. Dimes windsor chairs need freshening up
I have 12 D.R. Dimes windsor chairs that were finished with some sort of painted crackle effect, dark green with peeks of red. They are approximately 35 years old and the finish is looking dull. I ...
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How to freshen wooden box
I have an old Chess set which has been in storage in what would appear to be less than ideal conditions. (Photo taken with flash.)
One half of the box (on one side only, ie the half that is not shown ...
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How to refinish artificially textured surface?
I'm having a bureau used as a working place (for writing, working, studying).
Its top has artificially (I suppose) texture finished with lacquer or varnish. It looks OK, but using it as intended (to ...
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Refinishing an "antique" storm door
I recognize that this may be more appropriate for DIY, but what I'm doing hies pretty closely to classic woodworking, so let's give it a try.
I've read a few Q&A related to refinishing wooden ...
user5572
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Refinishing teak patio table
A couple of years ago, we purchased a beautiful teak outdoor table. I sealed it with Semco sealer (recommended by the store for teak) a month after we bought it. To protect our investment, we also had ...
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