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I know, it is really the same project as this, but I didn't know where else to put it. It is kind of a project after all. I did notice that I don't have anything on my site yet about finishing, so I guess this is the first page on a finishing related topic.
A noted in the link above, I built this table 15 or more years ago for our living room. I haven't really had time to make another and this one has served us well. I was drawing up plans for a new coffee table to go with our new carpet and furniture but my wife just couldn't wait and had to have this one refinished first. She is going to have to wait now. I need shop cabinets, darn it, and I have some wing backs I want to try to build.
The finish on the table was a standard polyurethane by Flecto. I wanted to try out that Citristip stuff but the wife bought Kleen Strip instead which is a methylene chloride based stripper. I searched the net for links to it but can't find any. I believe she bought it from Home Depot, but I can't be sure. This is another time when you wish you had your camera ready but I didn't, or I would have taken a shot of the can to share with you here.
I poured the stripper into a clean metal pail, and using an old bristle brush I applied it liberally in a circular motion as prescribed by the instructions. Try not to slop it around as this is nasty stuff. It also helps to repeat this 2 or 3 times before removing the finish. The brush doesn't matter as it will practically melt anyway and you should wear rubber gloves and wear a respirator with black, organic vapour or VOC cartridges.
According to the directions, after it sits a spell I am supposed to be able to wipe the finish off with a rag. That is a bunch of bull, I can tell you. A 15+ year old polyurethane finish is hard as you please and, although methylene chloride stripper works from the wood out, you still need to use a paint scraper to get the finish off. Don't get me wrong, without the stripper you can scrape the live long day and get nowhere. Don't be overzealous or you will damage the wood underneath.
Once the finish was removed, the piece was sanded to remove the last vestiges of the poly and stripper. Now, the table is made of pine and spruce. Soft woods like these tend to get a grainy texture when sanded. What I mean by this is that if not sanded properly, the sand paper will wear away the softer, quickly grown spring wood faster than the harder, more slowly grown summer or late wood. The result is not a flat surface, but a wavy one where parts of the growth rings stand proud of the rest of the surface.
How do you fix this? Sand agressively. By that I mean use a more agressive sander and a coarse grit that will cut away at earlywood and latewood with equal fervor. In my case I used Klingspor 80 grit stearated disks on my Porter Cable random orbit sander.
After flattening and cleaning with the 80 grit, I moved to 120 with the random orbit sander then 150 grit with my palm sander. This left the suface smooth as a baby's bottom. There were some nicks and bruises left from previous wear but these lent a slightly distressed look to the piece - something people pay a lot of money for.
At this point I decided that the original edge I put on the table was too parochial and not very elegant. I used a rounding over bit in my router to re-edge the table then sanded off the marks left by the bearing of the bit.
After sanding and routing I applied one coat of Minwax walnut stain. My wife wanted a really deep color that made the pine top look very antique. One coat was sufficient to satisfy her so I stopped there.
After the stain I went immediately to a clear coat of satin Parks water based polyurethane - NO sanding required. If you sand you will probably remove too much stain. It is better to seal the finish, then after the poly raises the grain you can flatten out just the raised bit and scuff the poly, completing two tasks at once. One dry, I sanded lightly with 220 grit paper, wiped with a tack rag, then reapplied the polyurethane. I used a foam, disposable brush. I probably would not do this again as I find foam brushes too hard to control in terms of the amount of finish applied. In any event, no matter how hard you try, the poly will bubble up a bit. Some bubbles are all right as they will disappear themselves but a froth is too much. Strong, slow, even strokes will work and when you get frothing, slow the brush to a crawl. This will allow the brush to soak up the froth. Keep a wet edge and try to brush only in one direction, never going back on your strokes.
Make sure to wipe off, or blow off with a compressor as I did - both before finishing and between coats. Any amount of dust on the surface will ruin your results. I also tack rag the piece after blowing it off with air. The tack rag will pick up lots of stuff even compressed air will miss. I buy my tack rags in bulk from Klingspor's. They are much cheaper that way. I know there are recipes out there for your own but they require you buy even more stuff, like a fireproof rag bin, to mitigate the fire hazard. The old fashioned recipes are really no cheaper and are much more trouble than they are worth. Tack rags can be had at Klingspor's for $17 for a box of 24. They are reusable so they go a long way.
Three coats of poly were enough. I bought floor poly so I am hoping that it will be slightly more durable. It certainly gave a nice smooth finish. Here is another shot.
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