How do you restain a wood table?

by delavin home June 30, 2024

Sources

How To: Refinish a Wooden Dining Table — Little Reesor House

littlereesorhouse.com

A simple way to refinish wood furniture with Waterlox wiping varnish

www.youtube.com

How to Refinish a Table in 5 Steps (It's Actually Easy!)

www.architecturaldigest.com

Removing Stains and Discoloration From Wooden Furniture: Tips

home.howstuffworks.com

Answer

Here are the key steps to restain a wood table:

Strip the existing finish using a chemical stripper or by sanding down to raw wood13. Use a plastic scraper and steel wool to remove the old finish. Wear safety gear like gloves and a respirator.
Sand the table starting with 60-80 grit sandpaper, going with the grain of the wood. Use an orbital sander for flat surfaces and sand by hand for curved areas135. Finish with 120-150 grit paper.
Wipe away all dust with a tack cloth after sanding15.
Apply a wood conditioner if desired to help the stain go on evenly, especially for soft woods like pine1. Let it sit for the recommended time.
Select a new stain color and apply it with a clean rag, wiping off excess after 15 minutes13. Reapply coats until you achieve the desired color.
Seal the stained surface with 2-3 coats of a clear polyurethane or polycrylic topcoat, sanding lightly between coats13. A matte finish will look more natural than glossy.
Let the topcoat fully cure for 1-2 days before using the table. Buff with steel wool and apply paste wax for extra protection3.

The key is taking the time to properly prepare the surface by stripping and sanding, applying a conditioner if needed, and using a high-quality stain and topcoat. With some patience, you can restain a table to look like new.

References

1. How To: Refinish a Wooden Dining Table — Little Reesor House 2. A simple way to refinish wood furniture with Waterlox wiping varnish 3. How to Refinish a Table in 5 Steps (It's Actually Easy!)4. Removing Stains and Discoloration From Wooden Furniture: Tips 5. Refinishing Old Furniture : 15 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables

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Author: Biscuit Tree Woodworks

Key insights

Wood stain can be used to make a bold statement with color while still allowing the wood grain to show through.
️ If you want professional-looking results when staining wood, it's important to sand the project beforehand to avoid a rough and inconsistent look.
Sanding the wood before staining can significantly impact the final result, as unsanded boards may have dark streaks and rough patches that soak up more stain, creating a darker look.
🤔 Blotching, which refers to the dark areas on both the sanded and unsanded boards, can affect the overall appearance of the stained wood.
️ It is crucial to apply a top coat to protect the wood and the finish from potential damage or watermarks, highlighting the importance of proper wood maintenance.
Improper disposal of oily rags can lead to spontaneous ignition and fires in workshops, causing thousands of incidents every year.
When using an oil-based wipe-on poly finish, it is important to wait 12 to 24 hours between coats and lightly sand with 320 grit sandpaper before applying each subsequent coat.
⏰ If you're in a hurry and don't want to change the color of the wood, the water-based finish is a good option, but if you have the time and prefer a better look, the oil-based wipe-on poly is recommended.

Timestamped Summary

00:00 Wood stain is not necessary for woodworking projects, but it can be used to enhance the natural beauty of the wood or to match existing furniture, and it should be followed by a top coat for protection.
01:10 Sanding is necessary before applying stain to achieve professional-looking results and prevent a rough and inconsistent look, and using a pencil to draw lines on the surface helps determine when to move on to the next grit.
02:30 Apply stain to wood using a brush or rag, working it in circular motions and wiping away excess after a few minutes, but be cautious of dark streaks, rough patches, and scratches if not sanded beforehand.
03:56 The finished piece should not have undulations or blotching caused by mill marks, and while some may like the variation in color, it reminds the speaker of the 1980s and they are not a fan.
05:03 Use pre-stained wood conditioner for a muted effect, then apply even stain and wait before adding a top coat for protection.
06:35 Never throw oily rags into the trash or a dusty corner as they can spontaneously ignite and cause a fire; instead, lay them flat on a concrete floor to disperse the heat and let them dry before disposing of them safely, and don't forget to hit the like button to show your support.
07:24 Apply a pre-stain conditioner, stain the wood, and apply multiple coats of either oil-based or water-based finish, allowing each coat to dry and lightly sanding in between, for a clear and even coverage.
09:18 The oil-based wipe-on poly adds an amber color and warmer appearance to wood, while the water-based finish dries faster but doesn't add much depth or color; for a high-quality finish, follow the steps outlined in the video and consider personal preferences.

Video Full Text

00:00 Hey I'm John with biscuitry Woodworks and today I'm going to show you how to get better results on your next stained project. I'm going to show you some products and techniques that you should be using if you want great results as well as a few things that you might want to avoid now. If you're completely new to woodworking. You may not realize this but wood stain isn't actually necessary at all on your project. In fact most of the time I prefer not to use a stain at all and let the natural beauty of the wood speak for itself. Now you may not have access to the wood that you want to use in your area or it just may not be in the budget for the project that you're building. But that's where wood stain can come in. Sometimes you just want to make a bold statement with color that doesn't occur naturally in the wood but still have the wood grain show through. I'll also use stain if I need to match an existing piece of furniture or if I have a client that requests a specific color. Now in most cases you'll be using stain to improve the look of inexpensive and in some opinions dull looking wood such as Pine or that mysterious white wood that you see in the Home Centers. Now another thing wood stain really isn't a wood finish in the sense that it doesn't offer any real protection to the wood. You're still going to have to apply some type of top coat over the wood stain.
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01:10 Otherwise. It's the first time someone sets their cold drink on your table. You'll get a really nasty looking water ring seriously I get nightmares every time. I think of that now that we've talked about what stain is and what it isn't how do. We get the best results from it well like most things in life. The more you prepare up front. The better your results are likely going to be and unfortunately I'm referring to that necessary evil and woodworking sanding yes. If you want professional. Looking results you're going to have to stay in the project before applying the stain. Otherwise you're going to get a very rough and inconsistent look to the piece so let me show you. I have two pieces here that I cut from the same board that I picked up at my local Home Center. One of these I'm going to leave as is the other I'm going to take through my sanding progression. I'm going to start with 100 grit then progress to 220 150 and finally 180 Grit between each of the Grits I'm going to use a pencil and draw some light lines across the surface of the board. This is a great way to know when you're done with each grit once the pencil marks are gone. You're free to move on to the next grit in the progression between grits. I'll vacuum up the dust and particles that break off from the Sandpaper. This helps to prevent any scratches and swirl marks as you progress through the finer grits of paper all right now that we've got the sanding complete.
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02:30 Let's get some stain put on these boards and compare our results. Now when it comes to applying the stain you have several different options for what tool you want to use. You can use a regular bristle brush a foam brush or my personal choice. A cotton rag you can make your own by cutting up an old t-shirt or you can get a bag full of them in the paint aisle at your. Local Home Center you do want to make sure you're wearing gloves for this after all they don't call it stain for nothing. I apply the stain in circular motions making sure to work it from multiple directions to get it down into the grains of the wood. After a few minutes you want to come back with a clean Rag and wipe away. Any excess stain you don't want to leave this sitting on top of the surface if you do. It's going to become a wet sticky mess and it's really going to ruin your project all right so now that we've stained our boards and they've had a chance to dry let's compare the results here on your right. We have the board that was not sanded and here. On. The left is the one that we sanded through all the way to 180. Now clearly you can see there's quite a difference here. The unsanded board has some very dark streaks in it especially around the tighter grain and here there's a very dark streak where there was a very rough patch in the board. These rougher patches are going to soak up a lot more stain and create a much darker look. You can also see down here at the bottom. There were some scratches in this board and those picked up a lot more stain as well and it really highlights these defects in the board.
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03:56 That's probably not something that you're going to see in your finished piece one other thing that I can see in the unsanded board. I'm not sure how well it picks up on camera but you can actually see a small undulations from the mill marks. When this board went through the Sawmill. You don't have that on the sanded board the finish on this one is is very smooth and much more even than the unsanded board. Now even though this one does look much better than doing nothing at all. I'm still not happy with the way. This one turned out you can see around the knots around the tighter grain pattern and it's especially noticeable here around the cathedral grain where you have very light areas next to very dark areas that soaked up more of the stain. Now some people may actually like this look in the cathedral grain but this is reminiscent of me growing up in the 1980s and I'm not a fan. No not that 80s yes that 80s. So the dark areas that we have on our sanded board as well as our unsanded board are called blotching.
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05:03 So how do we deal with that we use a product called pre-stained wood conditioner now this product is applied after you've completed the sanding but before you apply the stain to apply the pre-stained conditioner I'm going to use a foam brush and wipe on a generous coat. After you've applied it. You want to give it a few minutes to dry maybe about 15 minutes. Once it's no longer wet. You can apply your stain don't wait any more than two hours to apply the stain for this product to work now that the conditioner has had a few minutes to dry. I'll apply the stain using the same method as before now let's compare our results again. Now the pre-stain conditioner is not perfect. It did leave a few areas that are a little bit darker and some of this grain over here and around the knots. There are a few dark spots but overall the effect is much more muted than it was without the pre-stained conditioner. Here we have a drastic difference between the dark and lighter areas and with the pre-stained conditioner. It's a much more muted effect and looks much more even and I like this look a lot lot better than without you saw me apply it. It's really fast really easy and you don't have to wait very long to apply the stain just 15-20 minutes. After you've applied it. You can go ahead and start putting your stain on and you get a much better look out of it but wait we are finished. Yet we still haven't applied a top coat to protect the wood and the Finish from damage or watermarks. But before we do I've got two very important things we need to discuss first.
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06:35 You should never throw oily. Rags into the trash can or into some dusty corner of your shop as oil stains and finishes dry. They produce heat. This can build up and cause them to spontaneously ignite and cause a fire in your shop. There are thousands of shot fires every year because of improper disposal of woolly Rags. What I do is I take them and lay them out flat on the floor preferably on the concrete floor away from anything that could possibly catch fire. Doing this will allow the heat to disperse so they're not going to catch fire and just let them sit overnight. The next day. They'll be dry a little bit crusty. Then they're safe to throw in the trash and the second thing I need you to do is go hit that like button if you're enjoying this video that lets me know that you're enjoying my content also lets YouTube know so they can show the video to more people all right so let's get on to the Finish.
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07:24 As with everything else and finishing. There are a lot of different options on what we can use for a top coat. But I'm going to show you two of the more common ones that I like to use one is a general finishes armor seal. This is a wipe on oil-based poly. The second top coat I'm going to use today is a water-based poly. Now this is a Minwax product that can also be found next to the stains and the wipe on poly at your home center. I have two boards that I've prepared using the techniques we've used so far sanding from 100. All the way up to 180 grit then applying the pre-stain conditioner and I'm finally applying the stain. After the stain has had a chance to dry. You can apply your top coat. I'm going to start with the oil-based wipe on poly. We'll apply a thin even coat over the entire board with a foam brush. You do have some time to work with this but you'll want to avoid going back over any areas you've already covered. This will leave streaks in the Finish after the first coat you'll have to wait 12 to 24 hours to let it dry before you can give it a light sanding with 320 grit. Then you can apply your second coat another 12 to 24 hours later give it another light sanding and then a third coat. The water-based pilot goes on very similar to the oil-based wipe on finish. You do want to work quickly especially on a large project because this water-based finish does dry pretty quickly itself don't go back over any areas you've already covered or you will leave streaks in your top coat. This finish will level itself out so just apply it and move on. It does go on kind of Milky to begin with but don't worry. It will dry clear. You only have to wait about two hours and then you can come back with your 320 grit sandpaper to give it a very light sanding and apply a second coat. Three coats should be plenty for an even coverage and good protection now that the Finish is dried on both of our boards. Let's take a close look and compare the results all right so on the left.
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09:18 We have the oil-based wipe on poly and on the right we have the water-based finish. Now the water-based finish dries much faster than the wipe on poly but it doesn't add a lot of depth or color to the wood now with the oil-based wipe-on poly. This adds a little bit of an amber color to the wood which gives it a bit of a warmer appearance so in my opinion if you don't want to change the color of the wood at all or if you're in a hurry and need to get the project finished. Then you would go with the water-based finish on the other hand. If you have the time and you like the look. Then my preference would be the oil-based wipe on poly I just like the way that the color comes out on this and I think it looks much better than just a simple water-based finish so as you can see. It's not that difficult to get a high quality finish using stains. There's just a few steps that you have to go to to get a really good finish. But if you follow the process that I've laid out today. There's no reason you can't get great results that you're going to be proud of on your next project. If you're interested in any of the products I use today I'm going to have links for those in the description so you can go check. Those out make sure you subscribe so you know when I release another video and thanks for watching.
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