Dining Room Table Refinishing for months

[Hugh R]

So I bought this pretty nice Rosewood dining room table about 35 years ago, me and other stupid people put hot pans on it, bleached out and generally ruined the rosewood veneer finish. It was worth saving, I took it to my BILs commercial wood shop to do work in a corner, no cost to him.

What a ***** of work, very,very tough to sand down, but after several weekends and his suggestions it came out pretty good. Several months of a day here and a day there of work.




Finished with1,000 grit, It involved some stains and finishes that are 75 years old. Some stuff you can't buy any more that are no longer available, but it does provide the finishes you want.

[Bill Douglas]

Ohhh nice.

It came out well. AND cool it's a few years old and got a refresh.

[Jim Richards]

The result looks like the effort you put into it was well worth it!

[Hugh R]

My BIL gets the credit for the knowledge on finding some one who could help finish it, I just did the rough sanding grunt work and final sanding. I'd never do this again, I think I must have paid myself about $0.50/hour

To his credit, in looking in the LA area there are very, very few people who do this kind of work. He doesn't, he just gave me space to slog through it.

[A930Rocket]

Beautiful!

[Tobra]

Most of the people that do that sort of work are dead

Spectacular! Gives me the inspiration to refinish our family's old oak table. Too many happy memories around it to just get rid of it.

[Hugh R]

Toby, True, most of those crafts persons are dead, which is why I had to appeal to my BIL, in Orange County, he said I can help you sand it, but in terms of refinishing it, you're on your own. I'm just glad he knew an 80 year old, or so, retired Studio guy who helped me. He literally pulled out small faded jars of "stuff" that he said he could blend in and make work, it took him several weeks before he was satisfied with the finish.

[look 171]

That finish looks great.

There are a few guys around that do this kind of work. Problem is getting them to do it the way you want it done. I know of two that we use all the time, but one of them is getting up there in age, so retirement is coming in a few more years. My guys and myself can do this, but dislike it. I have not seen too many younger then 30 that are willing to do finishing but a bunch of Latinos that come and go who aren't really interested in learning the trade. They are in it for the survival money. The market can't support the business and the SoCal AQMD isn't friendly to that business.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

To his credit, in looking in the LA area there are very, very few people who do this kind of work. He doesn't, he just gave me space to slog through it.

I do that kind of work.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Most of the people that do that sort of work are dead

That's actually not true. There are a lot of young men and women that have revived the trade these days. You just have to use the modern social media tools like Instagram to find them.

[Evans, Marv]

Beautiful job! I admire you for wanting to save it. Reminds me of the mid century, solid teak table I refinished last year. As I understand it, veneer is usually pretty thin. How did you address that without sanding through it?

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Beautiful job! I admire you for wanting to save it. Reminds me of the mid century, solid teak table I refinished last year. As I understand it, veneer is usually pretty thin. How did you address that without sanding through it?

Most people get lazy, myself included and start using a belt sander or some sort of power sander. Before you know it, even for the seasoned pro, you are through the first layer of veneer and the damn thing is done unless you call your favorite finisher to color blend in the booboo. My first go to tool is the hand scraper, an old fashion finishing tool. It takes off very little, fine layers of wood but faster then hand sanding with tremendous controlwithout going through the veneer.

[Evans, Marv]

Cool. I learned something new.

[look 171]

Merv, this simple thing. Take little getting used to but its nothing more then 30-40 min of playing with it. learning how to sharpen it and keeping the correct edge will take a little bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L4Ij-xMuNU

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/handscrapers-hand-scraper-set-

[billybek]

With what I have done to my card scrapers, I think I will just get new ones and treat them better!

Good videos!

Nice job on the table, Hugh.

[mattdavis11]

That looks phenomenal! Hugh, I hope you would allow me to share this thread with her so we can boil our 3 dining room tables down to 1.

[LWJ]

Lovely!!!

[MBAtarga]

Card scrapers are fantastic tools - once you learn how to put an edge on them. Saves a LOT of sandpaper product and time as well.

[rwest]

Beautiful job on that table- now don’t set any hot pizza boxes on it!