Sanding down and restoring wood furniture

fuzzylogic

fuzzylogic

fuzzylogic

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Instead of paying daft money to Made or any of our local vintage places (we need to pay for doors), I've bought a mid-century table for the kitchen to sand down and restore.

I've never done this before, but I have an electric sander with various grains. What do I need to know? What oil should I be looking to use after sanding?
 
With all finishing, especially oiling and tabletops, the more time you spend on prep, the better the results.

Find a finish that sounds easy to work with and will be hard wearing for purpose. Kitchen tables will need to handle regular wear with eating from crockery, cups etc. Water resistance as they'll get wet, be wiped clean etc.

Avoid the coarsest sanding grits unless you're struggling to remove whatever's on there. They'll leave scratches that are hard to remove. Work steadily through as many grades as possible and sand up to at least 240/320 grit for best finish. Raise the grain by wiping with a damp cloth, let dry and sand again with the finest grit.

If using an oil, apply a good amount then let soak and thoroughly wipe off excess. Excess oil won't dry hard like varnish, it goes tacky and soft. Make subsequent coats thinner once you've done a few sealing coats.
 
What wood is the table? Also, what sander do you have?

I would use danish oil for a finish as it leaves a small topcoat (mix of oil and small amount of varnish) so it's a bit more hard wearing.
 
LuckyBenski said:
With all finishing, especially oiling and tabletops, the more time you spend on prep, the better the results.

Find a finish that sounds easy to work with and will be hard wearing for purpose. Kitchen tables will need to handle regular wear with eating from crockery, cups etc. Water resistance as they'll get wet, be wiped clean etc.

Avoid the coarsest sanding grits unless you're struggling to remove whatever's on there. They'll leave scratches that are hard to remove. Work steadily through as many grades as possible and sand up to at least 240/320 grit for best finish. Raise the grain by wiping with a damp cloth, let dry and sand again with the finest grit.

If using an oil, apply a good amount then let soak and thoroughly wipe off excess. Excess oil won't dry hard like varnish, it goes tacky and soft. Make subsequent coats thinner once you've done a few sealing coats.
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That's great, thanks! I'm wary of sanding too much. Is it worth doing the final sanding by hand? I read one reddit post saying to oil the wood, then sand down before oiling any more, is that right?

alexakasloth said:
What wood is the table? Also, what sander do you have?

I would use danish oil for a finish as it leaves a small topcoat (mix of oil and small amount of varnish) so it's a bit more hard wearing.
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I had been looking at danish oil. The sander is a Performance Power Detail Sander, no idea if it's any good compared to other sanders!

The seller hasn't said what the wood is but here's some photos. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/retro-vintage-dining-table-and-two-chairs-/273438915985?oid=183412323498

Gnjlynch said:
Can’t you use furniture wax like briswax ? https://amzn.to/2Md2qaL I think rustoleum do it as well
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I'm not sure which finish is best for a kitchen table, but it looks like it would work...
 
The table you posted looks laminated . Was very common back then . Personally i would never machine sand a table top unless i had to remove deep scratches . I personally use a mixture of danish and boiled linseed oil but i think i would suggest looking for a better table as a project
 
Snaggle said:
The table you posted looks laminated . Was very common back then . Personally i would never machine sand a table top unless i had to remove deep scratches . I personally use a mixture of danish and boiled linseed oil but i think i would suggest looking for a better table as a project
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Is it remotely worth bothering with? It's a bit of a stop-gap measure until we can get something better in place, but also a cheap piece to try the process on.
 
Snaggle said:
The table you posted looks laminated . Was very common back then . Personally i would never machine sand a table top unless i had to remove deep scratches . I personally use a mixture of danish and boiled linseed oil but i think i would suggest looking for a better table as a project
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Got to agree with this guy.look for a better SOLID table if you want to sand off the surface.
If the finish on this one is good then clean and polish.sanding a laminated table can be risky,you may sand through to the ply/chipboard and if you oil you `may`end up lifting the laminated top
 
Buy a cheap orbital sander - you'll be surprised how well it works, and doesn't scratch unless you hit it with P60 or something.
Take your time, keep wiping it off with a slightly damp cloth.
If you mess up, time for a new table top!
 
And it says solid wood - no laminate. Even if is "old fashioned" style laminate, that's more like good plywood than a thin veneer of wood over the top of MDF or whatever - sand away and apply your finish of choice. The chair he did looks pretty good!
 
I looked at the picture and thought it was edge jointed boards, so solid wood. It will sand up nicely. As long as you don't go mental with the coarse grades of sand paper you shouldn't take off too much. Once you get to the finer grades you'll struggle to take too much more off anyway.

You will want to re-sand with a fine grade 240 or 320 between coats once it's dry as you're likely to get some grain pop up making the surface rough. I Osmo oiled my workbench plywood top and after all three coats gave it a fine sand and the final finish was really smooth and felt much tougher.
 
Thanks all, very helpful.

Transam said:
Buy a cheap orbital sander - you'll be surprised how well it works, and doesn't scratch unless you hit it with P60 or something.
Take your time, keep wiping it off with a slightly damp cloth.
If you mess up, time for a new table top!
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Not possible/advisable with the detail sander? I was looking at this but might be too cheap: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tacklife-O...1-6&refinements=p_76:419158031,p_72:419153031

PlacidCasual said:
I looked at the picture and thought it was edge jointed boards, so solid wood. It will sand up nicely. As long as you don't go mental with the coarse grades of sand paper you shouldn't take off too much. Once you get to the finer grades you'll struggle to take too much more off anyway.

You will want to re-sand with a fine grade 240 or 320 between coats once it's dry as you're likely to get some grain pop up making the surface rough. I Osmo oiled my workbench plywood top and after all three coats gave it a fine sand and the final finish was really smooth and felt much tougher.
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I'm slightly concerned about sanding too much, and getting the hand-sanded parts to match up with the machined ones! I'll take a look at the Oslo oil.
 
Olso is a place in Norway... it's Osmo oil you want, and it's pretty much the best stuff there is. Certainly not cheap though, and you don't want to skimp on the "working" surface and chair tops, but you can get away with using less on the rest of it.
 
Transam said:
Olso is a place in Norway... it's Osmo oil you want, and it's pretty much the best stuff there is. Certainly not cheap though, and you don't want to skimp on the "working" surface and chair tops, but you can get away with using less on the rest of it.
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I know, I've been, but that can't guard against the perils of autocorrect. ;)

Have you (or anyone else on the thread) got any pictures of furniture that you've used this oil on?
 
Ive built a lot of the furniture in our house - gives me a chance to feel Ive achieved something as my day to day job doesnt have that satisfaction.

In terms of process its fairly standard:

Sand surface using various grains with a belt sander
Refine sanding with an orbital sander
Wipe down with a damp cloth
Apply a coat of lacquer
Once dried rub down with steel wool
Repeat lacquer / steel wool multiple times (at least 4 or 5 layers)
Apply a coat of wax

I have 5 kids so the table takes a huge amount of abuse but it holds up exceptionally well. The lacquer / wax is a personal thing, but I vastly prefer it to oil.

edit: From looking at the pictures it looks like stained pine with a lacquered finish. Do you plan on staining the wood? If so apply the stain prior to any finish (oil or lacquer).
 
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