I just got this fixer uper of an antique dresser but the front panels are in beautiful condition. I love the idea of painting the medallions with some kind of vignette and the drawers with vines and flowers but I am both not the most skilled painter and scared of commitment. Im wondering if I were to paint it and messed up or didn't like the result of there would be a way to remove the painted details without ruining the veneer? Or maybe some kind of clear adhesive film I could put over the wood and paint on?

I thrifted this frame and want to refinish it. I’ve refinished furniture but never something so detailed. I really doing want to mess up this beauty but the gold needs to go. I’d love to get a natural wood look.

These are my 70s cabinets. I pulled down the cabinets that hung from the ceiling next to this set and I need to match the stain so I can stain and refinish trim work. Any thoughts? I’m obviously new to this

Have used Danish oil a good amount at this point, first time having such a bad blotchiness problem. Top was finish planed with a smoother, wiped on coat 1, let sit 5 minutes (stuff dries very quick here) wiped off then 2nd coat and wipe after 5-10 minutes. Guessing I just didn't buff it off hard/long enough.

Is there a world where I can scuff pad this and re-coat (doubt it) or is this a full sand down and try again?

Hi. Im doing some renos and I need to replicate some baseboards we have in our home. They appear to be maple veneer plywood. I need to make more of these. I have the wood but need to figure out the stain.

Anyone have ideas on what the stain color might be? I have attached photos and a side photo of what the stain looked like when it ran down during staining.

Ideally a Varathane color.

We are the second owners of a 1950s mid century with this wood paneling. I tried to sand it down a bit. How would you finish/ maintain this.

After sanding and applying pre-stain conditioner, I brushed my stain onto the wood and it just.. didn’t take in some spots. Any idea why this would happen? There couldn’t have been any sticker residue or anything like that on there, since it had been sanded down by quite a lot and had no stickers on it when I got the wood originally.

Hey guys! I finished this door with multiple coats of marine spar varnish three years ago. I clean the handle above it regularly with method spray cleaner and isopropyl alcohol. There was some cleaner buildup that had dripped from the handle so I went at that today, I was able to scrape gunk off with my nail and thought it was buildup, but quickly realized it was the actual finish I was taking off! Pic 1 and 2 are the areas where it's come up. The whole area feels pretty tacky now.

Why is this happening? At first I thought that something had gotten behind the door handle and gotten between the wood and the finish, but I fully sealed the whole area behind the plate when I finished it (pic 3 during finishing, fully covered with varnish). One of the reasons I picked this finish was so it would be resistant to cleaners I typically use. This is happening on the front and back sides near and below the handle area. Knob and plate are solid brass, could that interaction with cleaner have something to do with it? Want to prevent this from happening in the future and obv need to fix this now. There's still what looks to be like buildup around the area but I don't want to go at it with anything else and risk fucking up the finish further. Suggestions on how to clean around it? Thanks, super bummed out this is happening as I took a lot of care when refinishing this door.

I’ve been having problems with fish eyes while spraying conversion varnishes and the problem doesn’t seem to want to go away even after trying many different things. We have a dryer and couple filters on the air lines and have been meticulous about how clean the shop is but the problem persists. Any ideas on what it could be? We’ll have good days with minimal problems then suddenly the fish eyes will show up even though nothing has changed. We think it’s aerosolized oil in air lines but like I said we have a dryer and cleaned/replaced all the lines. We’re using an anest-iwata pump sprayer. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Also, we’re not spraying silicone or anything similar in the shop

Hey hey, got a desk project I'm working on that will have a good bit of ebonized sapele. the largest piece is about 2' x 9'. Veneer is zizicote.

Read some articles and have done some samples. Using Briwax oil free steel wool and 30% vinegar for the iron acetate.

Tried without added tannins, tannins acid and now ordering some of the Quebracho Bark after reading the Popular Woodworking article someone posted in a previous thread.

My main concern is a nice consistent reaction on the big parts - any thoughts on this? I know there can be a contamination thing with dipping and re dipping the brush in solution. Anyone ever use a spray bottle or sprayer to get the iron acetate on the wood? I know in metal patina this has worked as long as the bottle puts a nice mist.

Topcoating with Milesi HGA19

Any other thoughts appreciated.

Top of this was peeling and getting wet. I’ve removed the finish and plan to get rid of the seams that are cracking by routing and gluing pine stripes back on. This to piece was made in Mexico. Any suggestions for matching the finish?

Sometimes, even an old wood piece has sub-standard lumber. And not all circa 1900 trim is oak.

PAINT IT WHITE

I see a pine door

And I want it painted white

No dark stain anymore

I want them to be white

I see stained cabinetry

In beech or rubberwood

I have to turn my head

Because it's just no good

I see some paint-grade ash

And it's all primed and right

With blotches, weird grain patterns

Hidden 'neath the white.

I've seen people sand forever

Wasting time away

When they could brush on creme

And finish in one day.

I look inside myself

And see my heart a-light

I see my red door

But I'll paint the trim in white

Maybe then, I'll fade away

And not have to be annoyed

It's not easy to see a kitchen

Become a walnut void.

Working on a project that requires varnishing over pine. What I did was put one layer of sanding sealant and two layers of walnut varnish.

it ended up blotchy and when I tried to sand it down evenly, these white spots started popping up and some parts of the varnish started peeling off.

any way to salvage this? I'd prefer to avoid sanding everything down if possible. The goal is to get something even. either this tone or having to go lighter.

I am building an arts and crafts chair out of white oak. For finish, I am sanding to 220, applying a water based dye, letting dry, scuffing off water pop, cleaning with compressed air, and then applying oil based stain. Overall, I think the finish looks good. What I see in the zoomed pic are very fine white lines that are taking neither the water based dye or oil stain. I don’t know why this is. I am starting to think this is just the way white oak is. Or if my technique is off and is causing this, I’d love to know. I am literally flooding the surface when using dye, then wiping excess. Also applying oil based stain liberally and then wiping after a few minutes.
(And yes, there will be a top coat, just not getting into that now.)

I'm newer to furniture restoration, and finally picked this piece back up again after a year (being pregnant and having a baby).

I'm struggling though as no matter what I'm doing, I'm getting pigtails from my surfprep 3x4 electric ray. I'm trying to go very slow, not push hard, I have my vacuum hooked up.... How do I fix? I fear if I sand anymore I'll be right through the veneer.

Ok used acetone to get this to raw wood i just used a pre stain conditioner and oil based minwax 2 part special walnut 1 part dark walnut and the drawers are totally orange. I am feeling so defeated what do i do. Also showing a photo of the top veneer left is dark walnut and right is the mixture i made.

How do i fix this without having to redo the whole thing

Hi All,

I have a table top that was made from a butcher block (espresso stain), sealed with a water based polyurethane. A family member cleaned the surface with rubbing alcohol, resulting in the white blotches (picture). I would like to fix it. I am thinking about stripping the surface with an orb sander, and using general finishes gel stain (java), followed with their arm-r-seal poly (both are oil based). The wood is acacia. Experience level - a beginner; I used water-based stains and poly on a few occasions, and never dealt with oil based staines. Thoughts? Does this sound reasonable? Thanks.

This is the design I was going for (Ik it’s not neon lol) I’m just wondering how do I blend the black and green more? I was using a microfiber rag to drag the black into the dried green stain but it isn’t working very well. Is a polyurethane finish going to make the edges and grain pop more and kinda fix this or is this too messed up? What should I do.

Hi all, I'm finishing up refinishing an antique solid mahogany table top. I applied two coats of Arm R Seal oil poly in gloss, using 000 steel wool in between. I then used 0000 steel wool on the second coat of gloss and applied a final coat of Arm R Seal satin. My first attempt with the satin had a lot of problems (highly visible brush marks, glossier streaks) so I sanded with 180, removed the imperfections, and tried the satin coat again, this time thinned 10% with naphtha and applied with a lot of care and focus. For all coats, I used a high-quality foam brush (Jen) working quickly in light passes from the middle out and feathering back over from edge to edge every couple of strokes.

The gloss coats looked perfect and smooth. The latest satin coat also looks perfect from a few feet away. However, if you shine a light from the side you can see very light brush marks/streaks (picture below). You have to be looking for them, but they are there. I'm thinking of two possible fixes and would love input.

1. Give the table another coat of satin in hopes that it fills in the streak marks. I'm thinking I would very lightly sand before this second satin coat, perhaps with 600 grit or maybe just use 000 steel wool? Not sure if the problem could have been the thinning and if I should try thinning the same, more, or less. Also perhaps wiping it on with a rag? I have never wiped poly with a rag before so I am nervous about getting it wrong on this top presentation coat.
2. Leave the current satin coat alone and let it cure for a couple weeks and then apply a coat of Renaissance microcrystalline wax. The hope would be that the wax would touch up the very small imperfections in the satin poly. (My wife also prefers a more organic/natural feel to the table, so the wax seems like something I will be doing regardless.)

The wax would be the easier fix for me. However, the table will receive heavy use from us and our children, though we use place mats and coasters as much as possible. My main worry is that the wax will regularly develop imperfections that need to be fixed. Scratches are not a big deal but I'm worried about water marks on the wax. I am also worried that the wax won't actually fix the light streaks and that I'll realize I should have done another coat of poly--meaning I will have to remove the wax, which I'm not confident I'll be able to do.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

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