10th

May

Resurfacing Furniture

There may come a time whereby instead of buying unfinished items, you may have a piece that you’ve had for some time, or maybe it was passed down to you from a relative, but has started to show signs of wear and tear. As long as it is made of solid wood, you no longer have to put up with looking at a piece of furniture that no looks old and worn. With the right tools and time and patience, you can revive it to its former glory.

Before you do so, there is one very important thing to consider. Is the furniture so unique that it could be considered an antique? If it could fall into this category, you may wish to seek professional advise, as any work you commence on it could have a negative affect in terms of it’s ability to be of a monetary gain. But I’m sure if the piece you’re considering renovating was an antique, and unique in its appearance, care would certainly have been taken throughout the years.

For the purpose of this article, I’m assuming that the furniture to be worked on is a nice piece, made of solid wood and that you have no desire to part with it, but unsatisfied with how worn and tired it looks.

Whether it was originally painted or varnished, you need to strip the finish. The easiest way would be to apply paint, or varnish remover. There are a number of brands readily available, and most of them can be found in your local hardware store. These solvents generally consist of certain chemicals such as acetone, methanol, but contain other ingredients, but these are the most common. Upon application you leave for a specific amount of time, leaving the product to chemically react with the finish. It can then be scraped off with ease by way of a scraper. These are also readily available. Depending on the toughness of the finish you’re removing, you may have to repeat the process until you can see the natural surface of the wood.

Once you have removed the majority of the varnish/paint, it needs to be wiped down with surgical spirit to remove the residue that was left behind from the stripping agent.
Once clean, it now needs to be sanded down Depending on the severity of the wood, requires a certain grade of abrasive paper, but generally 80-100 grit will suffice. Using a bench, or palm sander, apply an even gentle pressure along the wood. Let the machine do the work. Always making sure to sand along the length of the grain, and never across. By doing the latter, you will end up with deep scratches, which will take longer to remove. So sand in the direction of the grain.

Using 300 grit, repeat the process. By going down in stages, you gently, consistently remove any scratches left from the scraping, or the sander. Once your happy with the finish, the furniture needs to be dusted off, and once again wiped down with a surgical spirit.

You are now ready to apply your choice of finish.

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Advice, Ideas | Bob, May 10, 2009 9:14 pm

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