Bill's First Adventure Into Wood Furniture Refinishing

Well, it turns out that in order for two people to live together, they need some furniture.  I already own a rather large desk, a couch and matching bedroom furniture.  I have also been given a used, but solid dining room set and an end table for the living room.  This meant that we were lacking a few simple items, like a coffee table, somewhere for a TV to go and bookcases.  In case anyone wasn't aware, I like books.  One potential problem already surfaced when Heather and I discussed our ideas on color selections for the living room and kitchen.  Since these two rooms generally flow together, we wanted matching pieces for each.  We also want quality items that will last a lifetime if need be.  No laminated particle board for us anymore because we've each been there and experienced that.

The glass topped end table I have is cherry stained, and the kitchen table set is a medium-dark brown.  Heather and I decided that we wanted to have dark brown wood furniture.  Not exactly black, but a very dark brown instead.  Since we made that decision I have acquired a large glass topped coffee table that pretty closely matches the design of the glass topped end table, but is a different shade of medium-dark brown than the kitchen table.  I also happened to be at the local D.I. thrift store last week and spotted a $6 beauty.  It was a medium size, solid wood table that could possibly pass for a decent coffee table.  I thought it might make an excellent TV stand instead.  I looked the piece over very carefully, and cosmetically it was in decent shape notwithstanding the fact that it was much, much lighter in color than any of our other wood furniture.  There was good sized ding on one leg and a few spots on this table where the varnish was scratched through completely or accidentally removed.  The other major detractor was that it seemed to be missing a major structural bolt; meanwhile the three remaining bolts were only half tightened.  I tried to pick it up in the store and the bottom half of the table tried to fall out completely.  It wobbled horribly, but the piece had some good potential.  Since it was only $6 I couldn't pass the thing up though.

Here's the table after I got it home, tightened the three extant bolts (which completely eliminated the wobble and made it solid as a rock) and sanded the finish off of the top of the table.  Keep in mind that this is the first time I've ever attempted to refinish any piece of furniture.

I used 220 grit paper in a random orbital sander and it worked great for flat surfaces.  Still took quite some time to get all the old finish off through.  I had tried using some lacquer thinner and then movd on to varnish remover with 000 steel wool, but it apparently was coated with a modern urethane enamel and those chemicals didn't impact it in the least.

After completely removing all the old clearcoat and stain via mechanical means, I re-stained the top with one coat of a 'dark oak' color that Heather had picked out at the hardware store.

This was before applying a new, clear urethane topcoat of my own.  After 8 hours of curing time for the stain and two coats of clear with 4 hours of curing time each, the table top was looking great, so I dismantled the rest of the supports and gave them a thorough going over.  The long, straight slats were easy to dispatch with my trusty random orbital, but the more complicated legs posed a different challenge.  By now I'd wised up and purchased some more powerful semi-paste stripper.  I had to use this product on those legs because it simply would have been too much work to jam sand paper in such cramped quarters.

Here's a side-by-side during the chemical stripping process:

It took a lot of time and effort to scrape away all the old finish (plus, the new chemical stripper made a giant, goopy mess), but after some final hand sanding of each piece with 220 grit paper in the direction of the wood grain, everything was ready for some new color.

Then came two coats of new topcoat and a 24 hour cure time before reassembly could take place.

I apologize for the atrocious glare in this photo.  I'll be sure to take one or two more of this piece when the table is finally put to work in our new place around the middle of this month.  I think it looks pretty decent for my first time trying any wood project like this.  Oh, and I also found a new bolt to replace the one that was missing when I bought it.  This table should be a nice, solid addition to our budding furniture collection.

Now, on to stripping down that large kitchen table with two leafs and six chairs so that I can make them all match.

After that I've got a coffee table.... an end table.... a record storage box.........