Any furniture restorers in the house?

[kvnband]

OK, my grandma is having a rough month/year with my grandpa being in and out of the hospital. I went and visited them this past weekend to see them, and while I was there, I stole two old end tables from them.

The background of the tables is as follows: My grandma got them in 64 (68 maybe..I can't remember). The set came with two end tables and one coffee table, all made of rosewood. Beautiful in their day. They've been with her for a long while. In 199x, she gave one of the endtables to her son and kept the other. The son proceeded to let the endtable ruin. You can tell it's had a rough life. The other one, she kept, but soon it found its place out in the shed, as there wasn't any room in the house. She was telling me last week how much she wishes she'd taken care of them (she still has the coffee table in pristine condition and still beautiful and shiny)

So, while I was there visiting, I took the endtables with the intent of making them beautiful again. Boy are they in rough shape. I've done the first rough sanding on the top part of ONE table (there is a lot left to do...two tiered table with legs and pegs between tiers). Amazing as it may seem, it looks 150% better with just the first sanding done. I still have to do the fine sanding.

My question is: Do you have any tips for me? Sanding I can do....But when it comes to lacquer/whatever to make it pretty, I'm clueless

Any products, no matter their price (I have about 10 months before her birthday) are appreciated. Remember, these were rosewood tables, and I'd like for them to look similar to what they used to.

thanks,
Kevin

[Irish]

Greetings,

Z here, Irish's spouse. How to finish the sanded pieces depends on the effect that you are wanting to achieve...

I'm not a furniture restorer, cabinet maker, or even amateur wood worker but here are my suggestions... (based on family members who have done this sort of thing professionally...) If I use any odd terms then you might want to google them as they might be British versions of American terms...

For a really impressive shine you want to look into French Polishing. This is a time consuming method of rubbing shellac into the surface...
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPAGES/Luth...chpolish1.html

For a more natural look (not nearly so shiny but I think an excellent warm finish) you can just rub Linseed oil (or another wood finishing oil) into the bare wood. This will give a very nice finish, and I've done a couple of pieces this way.

Or you could use a very good brush and good varnish (try Polycrylic) for a more enduring, less complicated finish.

If you're lacking in time then I'd go for the latter.

I hope that this helps,

Z.

Irish Edit: One of Z's family members is an old-style cabinet maker of incredible talent. He has made pieces for various family members, and I can tell you, they're like almost nothing you've ever seen, quality wise. I believe that the hand-rubbed shellac method is the one he uses to finish his pieces.

[kvnband]

Thank you very much. As stated, neither time nor money is much of an issue, so I will be taking the long, tedious, more impressive route.

Since I don't know much about this all in general: Is the shellac method going to bring out the wood's natural colors? I don't want something covering up what is underneath.

Thanks for the information on french polishing..reading it now.

[jimpierce7]

as for me my friend..............what I would do is after you get your arms re attached after all the sanding, is rub in/on several coats of Tung oil. Tung oil only lightly darkens the color of the wood, any finish does that, but it lets you decide how shiny you want it with the numder of coats you put on it. When it is set it is just about the hardest finish there is.........the Chinese used it to make runways in WWII for aircraft. At least its what I use when I re finish old furniture.

[TooLover]

I had a cherry desk that I restored and sold for a bundle; it came me looking horrible! It was tedious work, but looked wonderful in the end.
I am with Jim - Tung Oil really is the best way to go.
Good luck!

[Miro The Macaw]

I have done a LOT of wood refinishing- Mostly when restoring wooden boats...

A hand rubbed finish is certainly the way to go. Z's reccomended finish is a great one, and will last for ever. A hand rubbed oil finish will also work well.

Just make SURE that you sand them down well, and get any ols stain and/or varnish out of them. You can use an electric sander for the majority of the work, but you will have to switch to hand sanding later to avoid the 'swirl' marks that ALL electrics seem to leave... Go down to 300 grit or so paper, and you will be good.

You build up the rubbed finishes over time, allowing one coat to dry, then buffing it, applying another coat, buffing THAT, then another. You can get a pretty good sheen from an oil finish, but if you are after the 'wet look', look elsewhere.

If you opt for a varnish, I would tend to use a natural oilbased rather than a polyurethane. It is a bit harder to work with and the finish isn't quite as tough, BUT it is much better looking. My favorite is a dutch product called Epiphanes (I think I spelled it right), it is found at boating/marine supply stores.

We did exterior wood with varnish, usually building up 15-20 coats (yeah- or more... What a pain) and wet sanding with 600-800 grit between them... Interior woods were generally hand rubbed unless they wanted the high gloss of varnish...
Hope this helps,

-Andrew

[kvnband]

Originally Posted by Miro The Macaw

You can use an electric sander for the majority of the work,

Bah....hand sanding all the way

Thank you everyone for your tips so far. This is going to be a beautiful table.

[RhondaR]

I've refinished quite a bit of furniture. My favorite is an old rocker I found in a field. I met a retired furniture restorer who had a shop in San Francisco most of his life. His "shop" was amazing, I'd never imagined how many tools there could be! Without him, I'd never have figured out how to put a rocker back together!

My two peices of advice:

Mineral Spirits (Paint Thinner) to clean the wood after the sanding. All the fine dust will be removed and the wood won't be stained or damaged in any way.

Buy some rosewood and try out different finishes until you not only find the one you like the best (and that matches her table) but perfect your technique so that when you're working on the end tables you'll have worked out all the possible glitches. Refinishing your refinishing takes more time than being prepared ahead of time. Don't ask how I know.

What a thoughtful gift. Good luck to you!

PS... Don't forget to wear your mask and eye protection!

[Irish]

"PS... Don't forget to wear your mask and eye protection!"

And show us pix when you're done!

[homebird]

Hi - came in a little late with my re-finishing story. Hope some of this will be helpful.

1) My grandfather had this funny looking chair - found out later it was an original Lazy-boy - & no one thought it was worth anything & wouldn't restore it. So did. I took it outside & because it had hundred’s of layers of Shellac on it I used Methyl-hydrate & many rags - no sanding. Steel wool is also a great help if you have a mess of shellac.

As I got closer to the wood it started to look pretty good. I used some old office shirts of my husbands’ to buff the shellac/wood (the arms are great for buffing awkward parts). It came up beautifully. Then I thought of all the sticky fingers - my son was only 1 at the time. Shellac really doesn’t work well with damp hands & sticky foods. I went into my 'art-stuff' closet - artists are such pack-rats (!), and found some Urethane. Now I think at this point everyone is wagging their fingers - but one coat onto the shellac, worked really well. My son is now 15 & although my cat scratched one arm, climbing – it is hidden with a little furniture oil - it still looks great & is a very popular chair - horse hair padding not withstanding.

2) I also used this Methyl-hydrate & fine cotton on our reading table & applied the shellac the same way. Many thin coats is the key. I wish I had tried the Urethane coat there too but I didn't & the edges still get taky in hot weather when arms/hands are on it too long.

3) We have an unvarnished wood cradenza that I coated/buffed with a home made furniture wax. - bees wax & olive oil heated in a can, in a pot of water on low. I melted the wax & drizzled the oil into it, while stirring. This one time waxing has lasted at least 10 years. I have plants on it & many water spills later it still just beads up like a good car wax.