So, I refinished a table yesterday. Wanna see?

[GOPisEvil]

[freethought]

1. There is something just sooooo great about

nicely finished wood. If money was no object I would have my own study decked out in some finished wood. Oak would be nice! Yeah! Oak, White Oak preferably, Red Oak if nessecary. Oak is a macho wood.

Good Job Sir! Careful though, a few people I know started refinishing everything is sight after they finished their first piece.

[GOPisEvil]

4. I'm already starting to look around at other wood pieces here.

Somebody stop me. :scared:

[freethought]

7. SEE!! SEE!! I WARNED YOU!!

You'll have to go to F.R.R.(Furniture Refinisher's Rehab) for deprogramming.
They say it's worse than trying to kick heroin.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[GOPisEvil]

8. It's a good thing for me I'm lazy.

It took over a year to get around to this table.

[billyskank]

54. Laziness is the saving grace for so many of us!

:hi:

[Dave Reynolds]

2. Very nice.

I like re-doing furniture.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. I like it! Looks like something from the 60s? What kine wood is that?

Nice looking grain, but hard to tell on a small laptop screen if it's the grain or aliasing.

[GOPisEvil]

6. If I had to guess, I'd say pine.

The stain used was Minwax Polyshades Honey Pine Satin (2 coats) and two coats of spray poly.

[freethought]

10. That is acutally a nice grain for Pine.

Usually pine is a pretty featureless grain. That honey-toned stain gives it some life and charecter.

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. Pine would be my guess as well.

So that is indeed a very good grain.

[seemunkee]

55. Probably not pine

Most pines are pretty soft and not normally used for table tops. Most likely it is maple or birch.

[redwitch]

5. bee-u-tee-ful!

Just look at that grain, that shine! Good job! I have a couple of pieces I hope to get to this spring. It is most satisfying to refinish a piece of furniture and bring it back to it's former brilliance.

[bridgit]

9. sweet...

[Lochloosa]

11. That was a 1950 Boston original Stienbringeraljl

YOU DECREASED THE VALUE BY $100,000.00

(I learned that by watching the Road Show)
:woohoo:

[GOPisEvil]

12. I hate when that happens!

x(

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. Yes,they would have traded you this collection of original Picassos,

but now it's not even good firewood because of the chemicals.

It'll be only time the antique roadshow guys actually destroy the object with a hammer and have it dumped without the owner's input.

[WolverineDG]

13. good job!

i've got a sofa & chair that need recovering, if you want to branch out. ;)

dg

[GOPisEvil]

14. Ooooohhh...I've never done that before.

But hey, it's your furniture and your living room! ;)

[GalleryGod]

19. I bet you your Ex, Aidan, would've done a better job?

[WolverineDG]

21. i've never done that before either

i was just trying to cash in on your new-found furniture skills. :cry:

dg

[GOPisEvil]

22. Hey, I need to recover my recliner too.

I'm too scared to try though. :scared:

[Shine]

15. Good work!! What's that little ledge like thingie on it?

it almost looks like a handle or something.... :shrug:

I like the honey color of the stain you chose. :thumbsup:

[GOPisEvil]

20. There is a drawer in the middle.

It can be opened from either side.

[Shine]

23. Oh, OK. well, that of course leads to the next question:

what are you gonna keep in there? hmmmmm??? the remote control? dirty magazines? ;)

[GOPisEvil]

26. Hmmm...I haven't thought that through yet.

Remotes are a good possibility.

The dirty magazines are in the bedroom. ;)

[Texasgal]

16. WoW!!!

Very nice!!

I have my great-grandmothers 100 year old table that needs refinishing....wanna job? :)

[GOPisEvil]

24. Hundred year old table?

Yikes! I swear my table doesn't look that good. :)

[Texasgal]

28. It does though...

Tell you what... I'll feed you some of FAMOUS enchildas for some pointers? What do you say? :hi:

[GOPisEvil]

29. Oh sure. I can be of assistance.

Do you have a sander? Those come in handy. :hi:

[Texasgal]

30. Do I have a sander?

WHAT? You are talking to MISS TOOLTIME here!!! HA!!!

Enchilda's and homemade pico de gallo on the way sir! :hi:

[GOPisEvil]

31. Once you've got the wood sanded, the rest is a breeze.

The toughest part is picking out which finish to use. I grabbed the wrong one by mistake, but it turned out ok in the end.

Mmmmmmmm...enchiladas and pico de gallo...:9

[Orsino]

25. You can't refinish it until you finish it...

...and not finishing it means you haven't finished.

Impossible.

But it's a very beautiful hypothetical table.

[GOPisEvil]

27. That made my brain hurt.

x(

[Orsino]

51. Bones and I will have a good chuckle about it...

...as the closing credits (and Spock's eyes) roll.

[amerikat]

32. That sure looks like maple to me.

nice job.

[GOPisEvil]

34. It could be maple. It's certainly a fairly hard wood.

Thanks.

[NashVegas]

50. I Think So Too

Pine tends to be a lot rougher.

[jmowreader]

58. It depends on the pine

There are three families of pine: soft pine, hard pine and radiata pine.

Soft pines fall into the "spruce-pine-fir" class--white spruce, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine, white pine and alpine fir. They're white and they have shitty grain. This is the soft, rough wood used mostly for 2x4s and other crap construction. It grows over most of the world.

Hard pine is also called Southern yellow pine--shortleaf pine, longleaf pine, loblolly pine and slash pine. It's yellow, it has a very pronounced grain, and it sands and finishes nicely because it's fairly hard.

Radiata pine is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. This wood is harder than poplar--a hardwood--and it finishes exceptionally nicely. This is what the window manufacturers use in their windowframes. If I can't get cherry for a project I use this.

[Ramsey]

33. Antiques Roadshow wouldn't approve!

But I have a few jobs for you!

[GOPisEvil]

35. Yeah, but the table had water stains and other damage.

I wanted it to look good. Plus, it's not marked with a designer, so I think it's just a generic Danish-modern-style table.

Maybe I've found my new career. ;)

Edit - I lied, it's marked Conant-Ball Furniture Makers. :shrug:

[Ariana Celeste]

36. Looks great! Did you have fun?

My dad's got a refinishing business, and I used to do some work for him now and again. I loved it because it was an excuse to get dirty.

I used to have the most fun after I had finished sanding, and was able to begin staining. :loveya:

[GOPisEvil]

37. That is the best part!

If I had a planer, I would have taken the table apart and run the top through.

[Fenris]

38. VERY nice!

:thumbsup:

[GOPisEvil]

39. Thank you, sir!

Now, if only I had the rest of the Danish modern living room to go with it...

[Fenris]

40. It's very mod.

Tres chic!:D

[GOPisEvil]

42. Maybe I can round out the rest of the living room with IKEA.

Maybe no one will notice. :7

[Lavender Brown]

41. Nice job!

I tried to finish my dining room table with a cherry finish, and it turned out horrible. I think I'm just going to sand it down and paint it a cream color.

[GOPisEvil]

43. I'm thinking of putting the same stain on my dining room table.

This is my second stain job. Both have turned out pretty good.

[djeseru]

44. I covet thy table.

Wow, seriously, that is one nice looking job - it's gorgeous!

Now, can I fit in my Honda Accord? :7

[GOPisEvil]

45. If yours is like mine was, the back seat folds down.

Oh crap...I've said too much. :yoiks:

Thanks - I look forward to showing it off Sunday!

[EstimatedProphet]

46. Very nice!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

47. Beautiful job, my dear Evil!

You are much more ambitious than I am......

Once a very LONG time ago, I had such aspirations.......

I gave the piece away to a neighbor, who did an outstanding job on it...

I have NO patience for this sort of thing!

Looks fantastic!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[GOPisEvil]

48. It really didn't take that long, Peggy.

The most time consuming part was waiting for the thing to dry between coats.

Thank you! :hi:

[Ron Mexico]

49. Nicely done. I'd ask you to

help me with my coffee table, but my wife is determined to throw it out :(

[MissHoneychurch]

52. Great work

now lets see .... I have ... an old bookshelves (about 100 years old), an old table (same age range), two other small booksshelves that need refurnishing. Oh and an old writing table (also that time frame). Want a job?

I pay for food and let you sleep on my couch :D

[GOPisEvil]

57. Ooooooh...

A job. :D

[swag]

53. Fuckin' beautiful

Nice work, hombre.

[justabob]

56. That looks great, you did a good job

I love refinishing furniture. I have a desk I worked on over the summer that turned out pretty well. I started on my dining room table, but it got too damn hot working outside and so I never got past the leaves. :shrug:

[Maddy McCall]

59. Looks great! I have a tavern table that I need to refinish...

but I can never find the time. :(

Your table looks great! Excellent work.

[SOteric]

60. Purrrrdy. I love the look of real wood.

I'll bet you throttle the first moran to leave a beer bottle ring on it. :7

[GOPisEvil]

62. I purchased new coasters to prevent such an event.

But, uh, yeah, there will be beatings...:D

[In_The_Wind]

61. Beautiful job!

I love the natural look of unpainted wood. :hi:

[flamingyouth]

63. Nice job!

:hi:

[Midlodemocrat]

64. Nice job!! If I send you my end table, will you refinish that for me?

[GOPisEvil]

65. Thanks for all the replies everyone.

My labor rate starts at $25/hr. :silly:

[DancingBear]

66. I build furniture for a living

I have an Accuspray HVLP turbine spray gun.

I suppose you'll want to be borrowing it any day now.

Egads.

[GOPisEvil]

67. Oooooooohhhhh....

....*tool envy kicks in*

I do have some large pieces that I'd rather not brush. ;)

[DancingBear]

68. I knew it

:)


I just spent most of the morning running walnut through a 20" Powermatic 301 Planer.

Now THAT is one bad boy...

I DO love it, though. :)

[GOPisEvil]

69. If I had access to a planer, I'd have planed the top of this table.

But, it's still pretty smooth with just a hand sander.

[DancingBear]

70. I'm assuming you used a random orbital sander?

60/120/220 grit progression or something to that effect?

Looks like you did, judging by the photo.

Tough to tell the type of wood - I'm pretty sure it's not oak - oak is a large, open-pore wood, and the type of stain you used would have blotched unless you used a sealer first.

Might be maple, but the eyes are getting old...

Hell, so is the rest of me. :)



Finishing hint: If you use poly that you need to brush on ( like on a bigger piece, perhaps) - cut it 50/50 with mineral spirits.

Finishing hint #2: if you do, make SURE the underlying finish does NOT use mineral spirits as a solvent.

How do I know this????

<crickets> :)