Refinishing an Oak Table

RE: Refinishing an Oak Table Post By colton (Guest Post) (08/29/2007) Use a sander and go with the grain, then use your choice of stain by following the manufactuers' directions. RE: Refinishing an Oak Table Post By Grand pubah (Guest Post) (08/25/2006) Handy Sandy, Time is usually of the essence, and a good remover for varnish can be found in any hardware store. If you can take the table outside and work with it there, I would recommend removers that are very caustic. Some of these run about $20-$30 / gallon, but gets the work done fast, taking off many layers at a time. Read the instructions and the work will go quick and beautifully. The cost is worth it since you save much time and aggrevation. The drawback is that these are noxious fumes (and volatile) and need a lot of ventilation. If indoors, you can use products that are friendly to the environment (and to your skin and lungs!); these work, but need attention to the details for best results. Follow up with sanding or steel wool, moving to progressively finer abrasives. Clean surface with a rag and mineral spirits (paint thinner) and / or a rag dampened with alcohol or water. Stain the surface, if you wish. Proceed with a quality varnish; I like Min-wax products. Study the various products to find which will provide the surface you want. A nice, deep luster can be achieved with a Tung Oil. Follow directions, and you will be pleased. RE: Refinishing an Oak Table Post By (Guest Post) (07/02/2006) hi i am an antique dealer and have restored several pieces of oak furniture, in england i hand sand with very very fine sandpaper or steel wool the mildest u can find, then wipe the dust off with white spirit and let dry, then apply a liquid stain in your choice of colour then let it dry apply it to a dry cloth and use sweeping movements to completely colour the wood do not make the cloth too wet, then finally use about 2/3 individual coats of briwax or clear wax rub them in one coat at a time with large sweeping gentle movements no scrubbing this will give a glossy highly protective water proof coating which will withstand central heating dry air etc but obviously use coasters to protect from hot black circle marks left from hot drinks almost impossible to remove and white circle marks left by water which need to be removed by rubbing out with any oil very very time consuming