workmaniac
I have inherited an old kitchen table and chair set. It's probably pre-1950.
It has a very dark stain but no poly-urathane. I have been using an orbital sander to take out some of the scatches but these are more like gouges so I'm not too hopeful about those. There is also a circuar water mark. I'm mindful of the fact that I may not have an even colour if I sand too much in one spot.
I would like to stain the table a beech colour to match my furniture but the current colour is very dark.
How do I do it?
Answer
I would go to Lowe's. etc. and buy a good quality stripper first, and use that, and THEN sand. (I HATE to sand:)..but if you want a fresh, smooth surface, I don't think you are going to get around it. Try not to just concentrate on one spot, do it all over, so that you don't leave "dips" in the table top...take it all down to one level. As long as it's a solid piece of wood, you shouldn't have any problems. Once you get it down far enough, and get all of the gouges out, you should be able to re-stain any color you want, and then be sure and poly, so you won't have to worry about the water marks again. When you start your sanding, start with a larger grit sandpaper, like an 80 then work your way up to a finer grit~220 or more for the final step. I wouldn't use an orbital sander though...try a finishing sander, so you can cover more area - more evenly:)
Good Luck!!!
I would go to Lowe's. etc. and buy a good quality stripper first, and use that, and THEN sand. (I HATE to sand:)..but if you want a fresh, smooth surface, I don't think you are going to get around it. Try not to just concentrate on one spot, do it all over, so that you don't leave "dips" in the table top...take it all down to one level. As long as it's a solid piece of wood, you shouldn't have any problems. Once you get it down far enough, and get all of the gouges out, you should be able to re-stain any color you want, and then be sure and poly, so you won't have to worry about the water marks again. When you start your sanding, start with a larger grit sandpaper, like an 80 then work your way up to a finer grit~220 or more for the final step. I wouldn't use an orbital sander though...try a finishing sander, so you can cover more area - more evenly:)
Good Luck!!!
I have a pine table (from Ikea) that I want to make darker. Can I just buy wood varnish and paint it?
Or do I have to go through several other steps first? Or should I not be using varnish at all, but instead a different product? I'm not a handyman type of person, lol, so I'm trying to figure out how to do this in the simplest way possible.
Answer
I have several pieces from IKEA that I have stained to match my medium dark kitchen cabinets. I am not wild about Minwax stains but unfortunately they are the most commonly available and they will do. Watco and Cabot are better products that cover more evenly if you can find them. I would NOT use varnish stain. Stick with regular oil based stains for pine. Pine is porous and tends to have an uneven finish when you use the varnish type. Varnish works best on tight grained hardwoods like mahogany, cherry and beech.
Just be sure that you stir the stain up well using an old spoon or a popsicle stick -- the stain tends to separate from the solvent and settle out like a sludge at the bottom of the can and you have to mix it well. Just shaking it won't do it. Wear disposable gloves and use old cotton rags (teeshirts or underwear) to apply the stain. Use a little at a time and wipe it evenly. You can always add more to darken it later but it is hard to lighten if you lay it on too thick. Wear old clothes and put a drop cloth or newspapers under the item to stain because the stuff won't wash off when you spill or smudge it on anything.
Note this only works if you have the real raw pine furniture and not the laminate type. But it sounds from your description that you have the kind that will take stain. Just be warned thet some of the pine pieces will take stain unevenly so be prepared to make it darker if it looks blotchy. Some IKEA furntiture I have stained looks great and some (like the kitchen carts that seem to be softer pine) look a little uneven and required a lot of touchup.
IKEA sells a nice oil finish you can put on after the staining to improve the shine and protect against water spotting. You can also use Howards Feed n Wax, which is a great final sealing finish for butcher block and wood surfaces. I think they still sell it at Home Depot and Lowes.
I have several pieces from IKEA that I have stained to match my medium dark kitchen cabinets. I am not wild about Minwax stains but unfortunately they are the most commonly available and they will do. Watco and Cabot are better products that cover more evenly if you can find them. I would NOT use varnish stain. Stick with regular oil based stains for pine. Pine is porous and tends to have an uneven finish when you use the varnish type. Varnish works best on tight grained hardwoods like mahogany, cherry and beech.
Just be sure that you stir the stain up well using an old spoon or a popsicle stick -- the stain tends to separate from the solvent and settle out like a sludge at the bottom of the can and you have to mix it well. Just shaking it won't do it. Wear disposable gloves and use old cotton rags (teeshirts or underwear) to apply the stain. Use a little at a time and wipe it evenly. You can always add more to darken it later but it is hard to lighten if you lay it on too thick. Wear old clothes and put a drop cloth or newspapers under the item to stain because the stuff won't wash off when you spill or smudge it on anything.
Note this only works if you have the real raw pine furniture and not the laminate type. But it sounds from your description that you have the kind that will take stain. Just be warned thet some of the pine pieces will take stain unevenly so be prepared to make it darker if it looks blotchy. Some IKEA furntiture I have stained looks great and some (like the kitchen carts that seem to be softer pine) look a little uneven and required a lot of touchup.
IKEA sells a nice oil finish you can put on after the staining to improve the shine and protect against water spotting. You can also use Howards Feed n Wax, which is a great final sealing finish for butcher block and wood surfaces. I think they still sell it at Home Depot and Lowes.
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