Refurbishing my dining table

It really depends what sort of finish you are looking for, would you like it to look old and used or brand new?

Old and used then lightly sand by hand nd use a fine wire brush to remove any grime from the grain, then I would wash the surface with some White Spirit with fine 000 grade wire wool, once dried you will probably have a surface grime, pull this off with the wire wool.

I like to use spirit stains as they imho are much better than the water based ones, work the stain in with a lint rag of a fine hair brush, as may coats as you like, every coat will make the finish darker. Give it half a day or so to dry and then apply clear Colron wax, do not use a stained wax as it can lift with body heat when lent on and stain clothes. Simply wax on and wax off as many times as you like.

To look like new first of all make sure the top is solid and not veneer, if it is solid you should be able to see an end grain which corresponds with the grain on the top of the table, if it is set about it with paint stripper, make sure you are sitting down when you buy it as the price has shot up in the last few years something to do with the EU I think), follow the instructions and wear rubber gloves, careful pets do not walk in it.

Once stripped sand the top with a sander, you then need to sand by hand with the grain as an orbital sander if you are using one can leave marks like springs which will show if you stain the wood.

The wood will now be a light toffee colour if it were mine I would rake the grain out with a fine wire brush and apply lime wax to the surface, once dry you can buff it up and the white like will sit in the wide oak grain, then apply clear wax to the top.

You could stain the top as above and apply a more resilient finish, oak is not usually French polished and to be honest it is a bit hit and miss unless you have done lots of polishing before, I would suggest a polish called Bar Top again it’s not cheap, it used to be a two pack and you levelled it with a steel rule but I think you can now pick it up one pack to be applied with a brush, it is alcohol and cigarette proof and gives a professional polished look, you can of course use normal varnish but to be honest you will end up with a table that looks as though someone varnished in the 1970’s, Bar Top will last for years.


Hope this helps

 

The marks look quite deep, Is it solid wood and is that water damage or just wear ?

 

For heaven's sake. I would plane at least a millimetre off to start with.

 

I suspect it's veneer.

I also suspect it isn't the nicest grain, so if you are after a lighter wood finish with a decent grain you may be disappointed.

If it's veneer, then sanding it enough to get all that black stain out of the grain might risk going right through it.

Isn't black ok as a finish? If so, I'd sand it to get it nice and even, and then coat it with summat like Dulux Ebony woodsheen.

 

Dulux Trade Q/D Black Eggshell would look great.

 

coat of wax on top ?

 

Wax will mark with little effort, water, hot mug etc

 

What plane would you use for that?

 

Bi-Plane!

 

I quite like it, a light hand sand and a wax but it depends on your decor.

 

To get that looking good

This one.

 

I suggested the other stuff as I thought it was a stained varnish more than a solid colour. But could be wrong...

 

A hard wax should be ok, once dried it will protect the paint

 

I had an antiques shop for about ten years and to be honest nothing really beats the traditional methods for furniture, wax on oak and a French applied polish (button, dark French etc) on mahogany's and walnut, IMHO you have more colour control with coats of a spirit stain as opposed to a stained varnish.

 

Looking again I think that you are probably right re the veneer and as you know if it is fairly modern it's just too easy to sand though, it would probably be cheaper to by a second hand replacement with a solid top from a boot sale - around £20.00..

 

I may be looking through still inebriated eyes, but the second photo top left looks to me like it has oak flecks running through, buried under existing stain..... Perhaps get a sharp scraper on it once it's been determined if it's veneer or not and if my eyesight is indeed wonky?

 

Try a cabinet scraper and see what happens

 

What's the underside of the table top like? Will it detach? If so think about taking it off and reattaching it bottom side up. No doubt the under side will be in better nick than the top which has taken all the weather and use. I've done this to several old tables and it really is easier than belt sanding, scraping and then waxing/shellacing etc.

Particularly worked well on a set of old science lab benches. Beautiful wood, teak like new when we had finished. The customer was over the moon.