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It serves me right for being a knuckle head!

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
A while back, I took our overly large oval shaped kitchen table down to the garage and went at it with my trusty circular saw. I cut the table down into a much more properly sized almost square table. It fit our kitchen better (and is the perfect size for the kitchen in the place we will be moving to in a couple months) and was better sized for Deb and I.

Yesterday, I borrowed a very nice router and a set of router bits from my father-in-law, Grif.

This morning, before all 97 degrees of heat made it out to our house, I carried the table outside and gave the edges a nice 1/4 round over. Then I grabbed my palm sander and a stack of sand paper and sanded the old varnish/stain off the top then grabbed some fine grit paper and gave the entire top and edges a good final hand sanding.

Then I grabbed a fresh can of polyurethane based stain and a new stain brush. Brushed on the first coat of stain and it looked great.

Then stoopidity kicked in. Instead of doing what I knew I should do....meaning let the first coat dry for 24 hours, give it a scuffing with some fine grit paper, brush off the dust and apply a second coat of stain....I let the first coat set for about 10 minutes, then tried to apply a second coat. Totally messed it up. Streaky, brush strokes as visible as cellulite through a pair of black spandex yoga paints.

Now, I have to let the table sit for 2 days to allow the varnish to totally cure, then I have to sand off virtually all the stain I put on, just so I can do it right.

Yep, sometimes I can be pretty darn stoopid.

OBIO
 
Yeah, lack of patience is just one of my character flaws. Being impatient goes hand in hand with my Adult Attention Deficient Disorder. Tie those two together with more than a little hyperactivity, and it becomes clear that I.....well.....should be on meds LOL!

OBIO
 
Not sure how many times I've labored over something in the prep-ing of it,.....only to do a quicky half-butt job in the finishing of it.
 
You just need to get some true shellac. As I've been rehabbing my 1909 I've come across several tricks to achieve certain looks to make my new work look 100 years old. What I also found is that shellac dries so fast you have to be a speedy gonzalez to keep a wet edge. Sounds like it was made for you. You can get a nice golden color and eat on it the same night. The fumes are heavenly toooooooo....:isadizzy:
 
OBIO said:
Yeah, lack of patience is just one of my character flaws. Being impatient goes hand in hand with my Adult Attention Deficient Disorder. Tie those two together with more than a little hyperactivity, and it becomes clear that I.....well.....should be on meds LOL!

OBIO
Click to expand...


If patience is a virtue, you are not a very virtuous man....:wavey::running::running::running:
 
This is why I avoid such projects. Twice I have refinished all the doors for kitchen cabinets. That is enough for a lifetime.

Shellac is interesting stuff. I have seen tables with layers so thick you could measure it with a ruler.
 
Forget sanding off two layers of polyurethane based stain. I went to the local family run hardware store and bought a can of super duper stripper. This stuff works on EVERYTHING. I applied a liberal coat of it to the table top...and the stain bubbled up before I had the entire table top done. Used a clean spackle knife to scrape the goop into a pile and then off the table into a metal can. Applied a second thin coat of the stripper to remove a few small areas that did not come totally clean. Scraped that off into the can. Then used clean paper towels to wipe off any residues. Then gave the wood a nice hand sanding with some 120grit paper. Tomorrow I will begin to stain the table...this time one coat a day until I have a nice 5-coat layer of polyurethane gloss built up. Going to be one deep shiny table.

OBIO
 
Obio, if you find your patience running thin, just remind yourself about how it's going to look when done right.
 
Yeah...that's what I am looking forward to. Even with the botched first attempt, the color and sheen on that table were amazing. I am using a Pecan stain...a medium tone with a hint of red to it...on the table top. The legs will remain the super smooth ivory white finish. The contrast between the Pecan top and those ivory legs was breath taking.

OBIO
 
You'll want to be careful with that stripper. Every spring we used this stuff called 5F5 to clean a winters worth of dropped resins, stains, paints, puttys, etc. We'd wear our worst shoes and throw-away clothes, glop a few gallons of the stuff on the floor (it pours something like melted candle wax) and start in with commercial floor buffers with abrasive pads. After a day or so the shoes were half dissolved and holes were eroding through the clothes where we had fallen (gets slippery real quick). I found some of the stuff a couple of years ago to do furniture but it was weaker than I remembered. Still makes a nice skin tingle though.
 
I'm with Willy on the Puh-kahn.

I was very careful with the stripper. The stuff was super strong and was designed for the removal of old marine varnish...it ate through that fresh polyurethane stain like it was nothing.

Today I put on one single coat of stain. Looks great! Right now it has been curing for 9 hours and has smoothed out nicely and has a great shine to it. Tomorrow around 4PM I will scuff the surface with some 180 grit paper and apply a second coat. Another coat on Wednesday and another on Thursday. Maybe a final coat of Friday....depending on how the color looks after the first 4 coats. Once the final coat is on, the table with be left to cure for 3 or 4 days before I hand buff the finish and bring it back up into the kitchen.

OBIO
 
OBIO said:
... It fit our kitchen better ...
Click to expand...

I think this is the crucial part:
You didn't do it for yourself!
I often watch myself getting impatient when fiddling on something for "our" household. Even if wifey doesn't keep a sharp eye on my home improvements, these tasks are nothing I fully enjoy, forcing me to finish it up as fast as I can.

Here's the clue:
Doing craftsmanship for my own purpose!

innenausbau.jpg


This is me last year when doing the carpentry in a corrugated-iron shack in my railroad museum.
http://mkb-berlin.de/neues/bau.htm

No woman - no rush - pure contentment! :icon_lol:

Cheers,
Markus.
 
Tim, for twenty-five years I worked wood, as a Gunsmith..

And I learned early on that getting in a Hurry always causes grief..

I am sure you will do well with this, and enjoy your efforts..
Bravo..
:applause: :applause: :applause:
 
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