My first refinishing project... and it's shows!
I've been working on refinishing an old dresser. Stripped and sanded
down to bare wood - that went fine. Applied a new stain (Varathane Gel
Stain which is oil-based) - came out great. I then went on to
finishing. I applied the first coat of Varathane Glossy Finish (again,
it's oil-based and I thinned with 10% mineral spirits). Application
went on nicely if I do say so myself!
THEN my troubles began...
As I understand it, I am supposed to sand between each coat of
Varathane -- which I did using 320 grit paper.
That's when I screwed things up...
PROBLEM #1:
While sanding some of the detailed areas around the edge of the
dresser(these areas are like detailed molding with lots of edges and
grooves), I used more force than I realized and managed to sand right
through the poly taking some of the stain off too. Now I have bare
wood staring back at me in a number of spots particularly along any of
the raised edges. This would be fine if I was going for that
'destressed look' but I'm not.
What is the best approach to fixing this? Can I restain the bare spots
using the gel stain without having to restrip the whole area?
Alternatively, could I use a colored pencil (those used to hide
blemishes and scratches on wood surfaces) to color over the bare spots
(they are relatively thin lines rather than rubbed out circular
areas).
PROBLEM #2:
For some dumb reason, after sanding I decided the best way to get rid
of the fine white powder dust was to wipe the whole piece down with a
damp cloth (it was not wet - just slightly damp). Well, I work fast so
it wasn't until I'd wiped down the entire dresser with this damp cloth
that I noticed it had turned the finish milky/cloudy.
Did I just ruin the whole thing? Will this cloudy appearance clear up
on it's own? If not, can it be fix? If so, please provide details.
Well, I'm hoping some kindhearted woodworking guru out there could
offer up some friendly advice to 'save the day'. I'm so upset that in
a matter of minutes I'd managed to destroy a week's work!
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Cheers.
S.
On 5 Sep 2003 00:38:55 -0700, [email protected] (Pixie007)
pixelated:
>As I understand it, I am supposed to sand between each coat of
>Varathane -- which I did using 320 grit paper.
Don't sand, just denib.
Flat Area Test: run your hand over the finished surface.
Feel any rough spots? Dem's de nibs. Take a hard block
and a piece of fine sandpaper and run it once or twice
over them. Feel again. If they're gone, you're done
"sanding".
Curved areas can be denibbed with a piece of scotchbrite.
Again, don't push very hard and don't rub back-and-forth.
Just rub once or twice and feel again. When it's smooth,
you're done. If there is a problem area in a small curve,
use a wooden stick to knock it down. What you're trying
to do is knock the peaks off the wood fibers and rub the
dust and other orange peel off the surface to make it flat.
Wipe it with a dry, dust-free cloth after that. If you're
after a really shiny surface, you can get anal and make
(or buy) your own cheesecloth tack rags. I prefer matte
finishes (which don't highlight minor flaws) and don't
care about the little stuff which might show up in a super
glossy finish.
>That's when I screwed things up...
(The first screwup was using stain but I won't mention that.)
>What is the best approach to fixing this? Can I restain the bare spots
>using the gel stain without having to restrip the whole area?
Since you got water in it afterwards, just strip and redo
the whole thing. It's not the cheapest, but it's the
quickest, easiest, and most safe method.
Make sure you let it dry and/or neutralize the stripper after
doing this because you don't want to have any other bad stuff
happening to the next finish. Make sure each coat is VERY
dry before denibbing, cleaning, and putting on the subsequent
coat.
G'luck!
------------------------------
Gator: The other white meat!
------------------------------
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development
FOn Fri, 05 Sep 2003 08:26:25 -0400, DLGlos <[email protected]>
wrote:
>On 5 Sep 2003 00:38:55 -0700, [email protected] (Pixie007) wrote:
>
>>My first refinishing project... and it's shows!
>>
>>I've been working on refinishing an old dresser. Stripped and sanded
>>down to bare wood - that went fine. Applied a new stain (Varathane Gel
>>Stain which is oil-based) - came out great. I then went on to
>>finishing. I applied the first coat of Varathane Glossy Finish (again,
>>it's oil-based and I thinned with 10% mineral spirits). Application
>>went on nicely if I do say so myself!
>>
>>THEN my troubles began...
>>
>>As I understand it, I am supposed to sand between each coat of
>>Varathane -- which I did using 320 grit paper.
>>
>>That's when I screwed things up...
>>
>>PROBLEM #1:
>>
>>While sanding some of the detailed areas around the edge of the
>>dresser(these areas are like detailed molding with lots of edges and
>>grooves), I used more force than I realized and managed to sand right
>>through the poly taking some of the stain off too. Now I have bare
>>wood staring back at me in a number of spots particularly along any of
>>the raised edges. This would be fine if I was going for that
>>'destressed look' but I'm not.
>>
>>What is the best approach to fixing this? Can I restain the bare spots
>>using the gel stain without having to restrip the whole area?
>>Alternatively, could I use a colored pencil (those used to hide
>>blemishes and scratches on wood surfaces) to color over the bare spots
>>(they are relatively thin lines rather than rubbed out circular
>>areas).
>>
>>
>>PROBLEM #2:
>>
>>For some dumb reason, after sanding I decided the best way to get rid
>>of the fine white powder dust was to wipe the whole piece down with a
>>damp cloth (it was not wet - just slightly damp). Well, I work fast so
>>it wasn't until I'd wiped down the entire dresser with this damp cloth
>>that I noticed it had turned the finish milky/cloudy.
>>
>>Did I just ruin the whole thing? Will this cloudy appearance clear up
>>on it's own? If not, can it be fix? If so, please provide details.
>>
>>
>>Well, I'm hoping some kindhearted woodworking guru out there could
>>offer up some friendly advice to 'save the day'. I'm so upset that in
>>a matter of minutes I'd managed to destroy a week's work!
>>
>>Thanks in advance for any assistance.
>>
>>Cheers.
>>S.
>
>Let me assure you that you are not exploring terrain that hasn't
>already been well charted. ;-)
>
>Yeah, just take a dab of your gel stain with a cloth and work into
>your exposed high spots. If you only exposed a little edge, it will
>work fine. Try not to leave any extra on the surrounding finish.
>
>Don't know why the finish should look "milky." It is normal to have a
>surface haze after your 320 grit inter-coat bonding sanding. That haze
>should only be on the surface though, and not in the finish. Take a
>little paint thinner on a rag and wipe the surface. If it looks fine
>with the wet paint thinner, then all is fine.
>
>As an aside, in the future, just vac up the loose dust and do a wipe
>down with rag lightly dampened with mineral spirits, followed by a
>light dusting with a painters tack cloth. On the tack cloth, do not
>apply any real pressure; a light touch works just fine.
>
>
>DLG
Just a quick not to say thanks to all who took the time to post. I had
to get started early this morning - before any responses had been
posted, but managed to resolve both issues.
The first, the cloudy/milky appearance, disappeared on its own. Guess
it managed to dry out okay overnight (Whew!)
As for the over sanded areas. I wasn't sure if I could use stain to
fix, so I talked to a guy at the hardware shop who suggested I try a
touch-up felt marker. It did the trick beautifully. Had to work quick
to avoid leaving any marker strokes, but the color happend to match
perfectly so I was able to restore the trouble spots to a consistant
color.
So.. I'm well on my way again to finishing off this d#$%m thing!
Thanks again!!
On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 20:46:44 -0400, Silvan
<[email protected]> pixelated:
>Larry Jaques wrote:
>
>>>That's when I screwed things up...
>>
>> (The first screwup was using stain but I won't mention that.)
>
>Was it really? My first project, the start of the whole life as a tool user
>deal, was a dresser. Someone talked my girlfriend into buying this hideous
>thing because I told her, looking at a different, much less hideous
>dresser, that I could put some new knobs on it and fix it up. "So you like
>to refinish furniture do you?" Well, uh, I, uh...
Your first screwup was letting her talk you into it.
>it. I used STAIN on the wood to change the color, and this STAIN made it
>look purtiful.
You misspelled "pitiful" there, Mikey.
>No idea what the wood was, or what color it was supposed to be, but it's
>walnut colored now. Except for the big spot on top where someone let an
>allen wrench rust, it looks rather nice if I do say so myself.
Ah, it matches the K-mart furniture, does it? ;)
------------------------------
Gator: The other white meat!
------------------------------
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development
Larry Jaques wrote:
>>That's when I screwed things up...
>
> (The first screwup was using stain but I won't mention that.)
Was it really? My first project, the start of the whole life as a tool user
deal, was a dresser. Someone talked my girlfriend into buying this hideous
thing because I told her, looking at a different, much less hideous
dresser, that I could put some new knobs on it and fix it up. "So you like
to refinish furniture do you?" Well, uh, I, uh...
Someone had painted it white, and someone else had done a really bad job
attempting to strip it. By the time I got done with it, I was down to bare
wood, but the wood was very much bleached out. It would have looked really
bad if I had just finished it straight up, so I STAINED it. Yes, I STAINED
it. I used STAIN on the wood to change the color, and this STAIN made it
look purtiful.
No idea what the wood was, or what color it was supposed to be, but it's
walnut colored now. Except for the big spot on top where someone let an
allen wrench rust, it looks rather nice if I do say so myself.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 17577 Approximate word count: 527310
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/