Refinishing Wood

Sometimes refinishing wood products such as furniture can revitalize and make them look almost new. This process can add many more years of use to them. Some of the pieces are still structurally sound and are made of very good solid wood. The older pieces seem to be made of higher grade components than do some of the newer pieces.

Whether you are doing this as a hobby or out of the need to have the piece refinished due to wear and tear you should consider the age of the piece and the effect that the refinishing would have on the value. If you have purchased the piece or if it has been in your family for a long time, you may want to consider having it appraised by a reputable dealer before beginning the process of refinishing it. Some alternatives like cleaning and restoring without refinishing would be a more suitable approach and will not take away from the value. This not only holds true for furniture but for other wood items as well.

I have purchased true wood furniture and other items such as guitars and musical instruments in Goodwill stores and at yard sales for the sole purpose of refurbishing them. On furniture items, you can tell a lot about them by how sturdy they feel and by looking at the wood underneath and in the bottom of drawers. I seldom have purchased a piece that wasn't worth refinishing. Presently, I am working on a solid body guitar that I purchased at a yard sale for this purpose. It had been repainted several time and the wiring was not good. After I stripped it down and removed all of the wiring and hardware, the base wood was in fine shape. I have discovered some beautiful old wood under several coats of cheap paint.

Once you have decided that refinishing is the way that you want to go, you have come to the worst part of the overall task. When you start removing the old finish you have begun the most aggravating and messy task. There are several way that you can remove the old paint or varnish and you may even be better off to use a combination of the two.

Considering how thick or hard the old finish is will help you determine which of the removal methods that you should use. If the present finish is very thick, you may want to consider breaking the outside "shell" by sanding and then use a chemical paint remover to do the rest. Usually the hardest part of the finish is on the outside layer when it has been exposed to the air and has oxidized to a hard shell. The paint remover sometimes has a difficult time breaking through this "shell". A good pre-sanding to break it will expedite the process and help the remover get to the softer layers.

Whether the finish is thick or thin, another useful tool when stripping finish is a scraper or putty knife. The first concern when using this type of tool to remove the finish is to be sure that scraper has no sharp corners or areas that can gouge into the wood. You don't want to make additional areas that you have to repair. If you are into woodworking you probably have a grinder to remove the sharp corners from the scraper. If not, use a plastic scraper and file the corners off.

I have found that working with small areas while removing the finish is easier than trying to clear a large area. You often waste a lot of remover by trying to work large areas. The liquid tends to dry if it sits very long and evaporates out of the finish. This makes a reapplication of remover necessary to soften the finish again. If you have decorative cuts in the wood, a good brush, wire or otherwise, helps to remove the old finish. If a wire brush is used, be sure that it is not hard enough to score the wood.

Another good tool that can be useful when removing old finishes is the electric hand blower. This is similar to a hand held hairdryer but is more heavy duty. These can be purchased at hardware or home improvement stores. This is not a bad investment if you plan to use them more than one time. They are particularly handy when multiple coats of paint are to be removed. Their paint softening ability is very good.

After the removal of the old finish and stripper, the next consideration will be how to remove the finish and stripper residue. I prefer to let the wood sit until some of the moisture is evaporated from the surface an then use a fine grit of steel wool to rub the excess residue off of the wood. Once this has been accomplished, I use lacquer thinner on a cloth rag to rub the surface. The thinner does a great job removing any oils or residue in the pores of the wood. (Use lacquer thinner carefully in an open well ventilated area away from fire or any source of sparks. Use a good mask that will filter the chemicals out of the air as you breathe.) Unless you plan to use an oil finish, this assures the there are no oils left on the surface. Some finishes, especially lacquers, do not work well over wood that has oil present on the surface.

When you have rubbed all of the impurities from the wood, use steel wool on the surface again. Once the surface has dried, sand the loose fiber ends from the surface with a fine grit sand paper. Alcohol is also very good to use when sanding to get a real smooth service. Apply it with a clean cloth. This alcohol has a tendency to make the short fibers stand up and stiffens them and the sandpaper easily removes them. I have used this final technique for a long time when refinishing guitars when I want a very "glass" smooth finish. Remember that sanding should always be in the direction of the wood grain.

Whatever technique that you use to remove old finishes, just remember that the new finish can look only as good as the wood surface under it. Be particularly careful if you plan to refinish with something other than paint. You should now be ready to prepare the wood for the final finish.

Charles Oxford

http://www.getawaycrafts.com/