How to refinish a dining room table?

by delavin home
Sources SVG
Sources
How To: Refinish a Wooden Dining Table — Little Reesor House
littlereesorhouse.com favicon
littlereesorhouse.com
·
1
How-To Refinish a Common Dining Room Table - YouTube
www.youtube.com favicon
www.youtube.com
·
2
How to Refinish a Table in 5 Steps (It's Actually Easy!)
www.architecturaldigest.com favicon
www.architecturaldigest.com
·
3
Dining Room Mistakes (Plus how to fix them!) - YouTube
www.youtube.com favicon
www.youtube.com
·
4
Sources SVG
Answer
Here are the key steps to refinish a wooden dining room table:

Prepare the Table

  1. Disassemble the table if possible to make sanding and finishing easier1.
  2. Thoroughly clean the table to remove any dirt, oil or grease using an all-purpose cleaner. This prevents grinding debris into the wood as you sand3.

Strip the Existing Finish

  1. Use a chemical stripper to remove the original paint or stain. Work in a well-ventilated area and follow product instructions carefully13.
  2. Alternatively, use coarse 60-grit sandpaper to remove the existing finish, sanding in the direction of the wood grain. Start with the roughest paper and work up to 120-grit3.
  3. Wipe the table with a tack cloth to remove all dust after sanding3.

Apply Stain or Paint (Optional)

  1. If desired, apply a wood stain in the color of your choice, following the manufacturer's directions3.
  2. For a painted finish, apply primer and paint instead of stain3.

Seal with a Topcoat

  1. Apply 2-3 coats of a clear polyurethane topcoat, allowing to fully dry between coats. A water-based polyurethane is recommended if you used a water-based stain13.
  2. Lightly sand with 400-grit paper between coats for an extra smooth finish1.

Reassemble and Enjoy!

  1. Reassemble the table if you took it apart initially1.
  2. Allow the topcoat to fully cure before heavy use, usually 24-48 hours3.
The key is taking your time with proper preparation and applying a durable topcoat for long-lasting protection. With some elbow grease, you can transform an old table into a beautiful centerpiece for your dining room13.

References

1. How To: Refinish a Wooden Dining Table — Little Reesor House2. How-To Refinish a Common Dining Room Table - YouTube3. How to Refinish a Table in 5 Steps (It's Actually Easy!)4. Dining Room Mistakes (Plus how to fix them!) - YouTube5. How NOT to Refinish a Dining Room Table - That Homebird Life



Author: Home Built Workshop



Key insights

  • 🪑 The old table is in bad shape and not high-quality, but it serves its purpose until a new one can be built in the future.
  • Sometimes, the finish on a table can be stubborn and difficult to remove, even if it's chipping and peeling.
  • 🧴 Mixing different stains and polyurethane to achieve the desired color can be a creative and cost-effective solution for refinishing furniture.
  • ️ Applying multiple coats of polyurethane can help achieve a smooth and uniform finish on a table.
  • Mixing polyurethane with mineral spirits to create a wipe-on poly can be a quick and easy way to refinish a table without precise measurements.
  • Refinishing furniture from garage sales can be a cost-effective way to furnish your home or make some extra money.

Timestamped Summary

  • 00:00 Refinishing a dining room table with a random orbit sander to extend its life until a new one can be built.
  • 01:37 Sanding down the table took longer than expected, about an hour and a half, due to the stubborn finish, but now moving on to hand sanding and finishing.
  • 02:10 Use up leftover stain and polyurethane to refinish a table, apply light stain first to adjust color, then brush on polyurethane.
  • 02:53 Refinish table with foam brushes, apply polyurethane, sand with steel wool, apply more coats, sand with 220, use random orbit sander for final coat.
  • 04:14 Mix polyurethane with mineral spirits to create a wipe-on poly, apply with foam brush, and tighten brackets on table legs.
  • 05:11 Refinishing a table can give it a higher quality feel and can be a good way to find inexpensive furniture or make some extra money.
  • 06:17 Apply three coats of polyurethane to the tabletop for a smooth finish.
  • 07:27 Refinish a table quickly and easily with these tips from Haley.

Video Full Text

  • 00:00 What's up everybody welcome back to this episode a home-built workshop today. I'm gonna refinish my dining room table. Now. This is not really a project that I was looking forward to or that I really even want to do it all. I'd rather just build a new one but my schedule does not allow for that kind of project. At the moment. I just can't quite squeeze the time needed to build a new table. I will be doing that in the future at some point because I definitely want to do it. But this old table is in really bad shape I have no idea what kind of finish is on this thing but it is peeling up and coming off and it's really really in bad. Shape I got a dress this. This is not really a high-quality table at all. It's fairly cheaply made but it serves its purpose at the moment until I get a chance to build a new one someone to see if I can clean up this finish and get it looking a little bit better and at least get a little bit more life out of it. This is by no means a build video or a difficult process but since it's something that I'm working on I figured I'd take you guys along for the ride so let's jump right in. I'm just gonna attack this project with my random orbit sander with some heavy grip paper. I'm not gonna do anything with the legs at this moment. The goal here is to just get a little bit more usable life out of this table until I get a chance to build one much nicer. I'm. Gonna remove the bulk of the finish with a heavy grit paper and then I'll work up to 220 boy.
    Read More
  • 01:37 I'll tell you what I greatly underestimated the amount of time. It was gonna take to sand this top down. I really thought it would take maybe only about 10 or 15 minutes. To get. It sanded down smooth and then a little bit of hand sanding and I can move on to the finish. It took me almost an hour and a half to get this top sanded down. I don't know what that finish was. But it really didn't want to come off even though it was chipping and peeling. It took a long time so. I'm just gonna hand sanding these edges and we can move on with the finish.
    Read More
  • 02:10 I'm trying to use up stuff that I have already around the shop so that don't have to make a trip to the store. I have some of this stain and polyurethane that I use them on a previous project. I think I've got plenty in here to use up on this. But I believe that this shade on this is just a little bit too light. So before I apply that I've got a little bit of light stain. I'm gonna apply a coat of that first. I'm just gonna use a paper towel to wipe on a coat of this light stain hopefully this will bring the color of the polyurethane down to where it matches a little bit better. Then I'll just make sure the polyurethane is mixed up and brush it on with a foam.
    Read More
  • 02:53 Brush. I've got a whole pack of these foam brushes. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to use up some of them. Once I have the whole table coated with the poly I like to go back with long strokes across the entire surface. This helps give the finish a more uniform look across the entire piece. Next I'll sand it lightly with some steel wool. I'll wipe it down and then apply a couple of more coats of poly. So I've got three coats of the polyurethane on the tabletop. Now I'm gonna apply. What is I hope the last coat I'm not building up. A super thick finish on this project because I don't really plan on polishing it out or anything like that. I just want it nice and smooth in order to get it nice and smooth. I'm gonna sand it with some 220. Now in a lot of projects. I would probably do this step by hand because I feel like you have a little bit more control and less risk of burning through the finish. For this project. I'm just a little bit impatient so I'm going right at it with my random orbit sander for the last coat.
    Read More
  • 04:14 I'm gonna thin this polyurethane a little bit I don't have a whole lot left in this can. So I'm gonna use the can itself to mix this up. I'm just gonna dump in a little bit of mineral spirits definitely nothing scientific. Here you can get scientific and do it two to one or two to whatever its kind of ratio you want to do but for me. I'm just dumping a little bit in here mixing it up and we're rolling with it. Basically I'm just making a wipe-on poly. Normally I would use a rag for wipe-on poly urethane but in this case I think a foam brush will work fine. Once the finish is dried the last thing I'm gonna do is tighten up the brackets on the legs. You can also see here.
    Read More
  • 05:11 This table was assembled with pocket holes from whatever factory. It was made in so here's my finished tabletop. Everything is dry. I can finally get this thing moved inside. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It has a much higher quality feel than what I had before. Even though it's an inexpensive table. It definitely feels a lot higher quality just having a good finish on the top. It's it a hundred percent perfect. No it's not could I have filled the grain and gotten a little better results. Yes I could have. But it's a bazillion times better than what it was before so that wraps up my quick table. Refinish man it's gonna be really nice to actually have a table back in the house and not have to eat on a coffee table. I'm looking forward to that one other thing that you can do with something like this is maybe you find something at a garage sale and you can refinish it and have a nice inexpensive piece to put in your house or maybe. You want to turn around and try to sell it make a couple of bucks. It's something that can be done. You find tables like this all the time at yard. Sales just gotta get out there and hit them and see what you can find thanks for watching everybody.
    Read More
  • 06:17 I hope you enjoyed it. If you did give it. A thumbs up also don't forget to subscribe to my youtube channel. We're coming up on the twenty thousand subscriber video so be on the lookout for that is really soon. We're very close. So if you want to help me get to that 20,000 make sure you you go down there and you click the subscribe button I'd appreciate it. All my social media links as well as links to my website are down below in the description so if you want to catch up with me on there and down there and click on your favorite social media site thanks a lot for watching guys. We'll see you next time I've got three coats of polyurethane on the tabletop. Now I'm gonna put on what there's a fly right in front of the camera. You see that it's fine thank you so it's nice and smooth and we can put out another coat of clear. It's not quite smooth. Yet feels a little bit bumpy.
    Read More
  • 07:27 Now so then you can get it earlier. Hey okay. That'd be a little too runny. Yeah went on time for this small details. My name is Haley. This is my pet.
    Read More


Back to Delavin Shower