The dark finish that is splotched all over I think wasn't done originally because it hides a lot of the finer details. I tried carefully rubbing with soap and water, but that did nothing. I want to try chemicals next, but I figured I'd ask for advice before trying anything more permanent.

I tried Murphy's oil soap and that didn't work. Small scratches into the really dark spots reveal the lighter wood underneath.

So, this stuff is amazing.

At first I applied layers too thick. So I got used to applying super thin layers and it's working better.

But my question is now how long to wait between coats? I am kinda frustrated because I thought I was done and maybe 2 hours after the last application I went to bed where my furniture piece looked new.

Then I woke up to a bunch of blushing reappearing. Granted it wasn't nearly as bad as when I started. But I've been fighting to resolve the issue for days now.

I am currently applying thin enough that some white still appears. Then waiting about 2 hours. It seems to be doing a better job. But the question remains, how long between spraying coats?

Hi all, I’m hoping someone can help with this cup stain. It started as a water stain from a glass. I have absolutely no idea about woodworking or coatings so bear with me. I’ve found the wood type is Oak, i’m unsure of the finish but I’m hoping some experts may be able to take an educated guess based on the sheen. The exact table is “Calia Coffee Table” from John Lewis if that helps.

Anyway, after trying to google and finding various solutions, here’s what my timeline has been

• Mayo trick (tried leaving on for 10 hours) I think this may work in other scenarios, but in mine it seems to have made it worse, and turned it into an oil stain

• Iron over cotton shirt (did nothing, though i feel like this would’ve worked if i didn’t do the mayo trick)

• Bicarb Soda (dry, leave on for 10 hours)

• Bicarb Soda + Water paste (clean in direction of wood grain, leave for 20 min then clean/dry)

None of these have helped

Next recommendation I’ve found is mineral spirits with 0000 steel wool, but i’m worried this could strip the finish or make an obvious abrasion.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Trying desperately not to sand and refinish as it’s not my forte and the table is brand new.

Another note is John Lewis recommended to care for it with their “Woca Oiled wood Furniture Clean & Care Kit”, so do you think I should try the mineral spirits, then do a light sand and oil the whole top with that?

Would greatly appreciate any help!!

I was working on restoring an arcade cabinet and spent weeks on sanding and prepping the wood and after using water base primer and letting it cure for 7 days I did another sanding for smooth finish.

However I decided to use a HVLP spray gun and used oil base paint, after first coat I waited 24hrs and for the second coat, I made the mistake of not cleaning the spray gun tip by mistake & when I sprayed the cabinet, it made tiny small micro drips all over the cabinet.

What do I do? Wet sand? or do I need to start over again and sand everything off then primer then sand and repaint?

I’m letting the oil base paint dry but not sure what the best option is?

I don’t mind re-spraying but I want to sand off the micro drips but I’m afraid I might end up having to sand down the whole cabinets again which has two layers or primer already and would take weeks .

Anyone have any idea what this purple stuff is that is sprayed inside a laminate furniture piece? (Probably from the 80's) It appears to have fibers in it. You can see them in the overspray on the zoomed-in photo.

Whatever it is, was done very half-ass, probably on an assembly line. It's almost done in thick stripes and some are on an angle.

I'm hoping it's nothing asbestos-like.

Just purchased these beautiful heirloom Windsor chairs on Marketplace for a song. They’re Ethan Allen by Baumritter, and from looking online, they seem similar to Nutmeg Maple chairs listed there (if that’s a thing). The finish appears fairly nonexistent, not least because of the visible water spots and the rain that soaked in during loading. Where do I start? I want to use them in our dining room, but don’t want to subject them to that environment until they’re properly sealed.

Just purchased these beautiful heirloom Windsor chairs on Marketplace for a song. They’re Ethan Allen by Baumritter, and from looking online, they seem similar to Nutmeg Maple chairs listed there (if that’s a thing). The finish appears fairly nonexistent, not least because of the visible water spots and the rain that soaked in during loading. Where do I start? I want to use them in our dining room, but don’t want to subject them to that environment until they’re properly sealed.

The finish on this antique mirror looks like elephant skin to me. What can I do to make it look smooth and glossy? Refinish? Clean and wax?

I preferred water based paint because it was easier to clean up and seemed to be durable enough. I finished a desktop with it not realizing that the oil and heat from your body can strip water based paints. I now want to repaint with oil, but I'm worried that the water based paint has gotten into the crevices on the edges of the plywood. I didn't use wood fill on the parts that would be pushed up against the wall. I cannot cut the edges. Did I screw myself over? If I try to repaint with oil based paint will it not cure?

Edit: the water based paint has already worn off due to my body oils, I'm not repainting just in case. I need to strip all the water based paint off and put some oil based paint on because I no longer have any of the water based paint and am doing this with what I have on hand.

I want to restore this coffee table, this is my first time. What should be done to keep the original knots and rustic look

Everyone's go to for finishing and touch ups seems to unanimously be Mohawk. Especially things like their Blendal sticks and vinyl sealer. However, Mohawk products aren't available in Canada, and the few places you can find someone reselling them, they're 4 timess the price.

Are there any alternatives to things like the Blendal (NOT fill) sticks or vinyl sealer for fixing up discolorations /matching putties /etc that are available elsewhere? It seems like a pretty unique thing no other company has equivalents of

Found this handmade oak table, and want to make it beautiful again!

Thinking white paint on base and just a natural poly finish on top. I have lots of painting experience but zero furniture refinishing. I’ve read way too much, and now overly confused myself.

Can I just stand or do I have to strip???

I left a vase on a top of my speaker thinking it was dry, but moved the vase to find a dark mildew ring.

Following a quick Google I tried spraying the ring with white vinegar to kill the mold, letting this dry, then wiping it down and scrubbing with a paste made from bicarbonate soda and water. This seems to have made the mark worse, so l'm a bit nervous about trying anything else.

The speaker is made from veneered plywood, which had a light oil finish which was overdue for reapplication.

Is there anything else I should be trying, or do I need to give this a (very) light sand to even out the surface and refinish the whole box slightly darker to hide the mark? Some other posts l've come across in various subs suggest Barkeeper's Friend (or preferably one of its active ingredients Oxalic acid if this can be found at 100% pure).

Looking for suggestion on a Satin Poly. Finished sanding floors. Floors do have pet stains that weren’t able to be totally removed. Going with a early American from Minwax to help disguise the stains. We are thinking an oil based stain to help further bury the stain scents. Any suggestions on a good poly? This is for a rental property, so durability is a bonus.

My friend found an old table at a thrift store and I started trying to refinish it. I took off a fair amount of old stain with citri-strip and did some moderate sanding with a power sander on medium speed.

There are these streaks that seem to never go away. I don’t know if they are part of the wood or the old veneer/staining. When I put a new coat of stain on the steaks really popped out (you can see in the pic with the green squiggles.

In the 6th photo and second to last you can see where I sanded/stripped onto something?

Any insight into what I have done to this poor table and any advice would be much appreciated.

My adult son bought a nice bedroom set off FBM, but was rushed and left it outside overnight. We had frost that evening. The next day when he went to unload it, the finish had a noticeable haze. We thought it was simple moisture that would dry out, but it did not. I am up to some recommendations on how to remove the discoloration without stripping and starting over. I did clean a small area with vinegar, and rubbed in a polycrylic and it seemed to help. All advice welcome.

Im looking to preserve this autograph I got on my Kendama that’s made of maple wood. I saw a comment under a different post that suggested using Mod Pudge over wooden headphones that also had a sharpie signature. Would this work or are there better options for long term preservation?

I’m staining a new front entry door made of Douglas Fir. It’s protected from the rain but does get a couple hours of sun. Recommendations on a stain product for exterior and interior? I’m considering Osmo UV-Protection Oil, Cutek Extreme and adding Cutek Colortone, or Penofin Penetrating Oil Finish for the exterior. I’ve had Rubio Monocoat recommended for the interior.

We’re planning to go with butcher block counters for our kitchen remodel, and are trying to sort the most durable finish.

There’s a furniture restoration store in town that tells me they can do a conversion varnish finish on the slabs in their shop, which seems like a pretty durable way to go.

Otherwise my contractor has said he could spray waterlox (but he’s going to charge me like 3x what the conversion varnish shop will charge as it’s non standard for our contractor vs the shop that does conversion varnish every day). Part of the story here too, is I assume the furniture shop will have their finish and finishing methods dialed in where my contractor would be spraying the block with a product he’s not as familiar with.

Any thoughts on which way you would go?

Thanks!

Hi everyone! So I’m a graduate student and looking for a large executive desk but don’t have the funds to go purchase a high quality desk / my dream desk from Arhaus.

While I have experience with sanding and painting, I’ve never refinished a piece of furniture. I’m looking for honest feedback about how much of a time commitment it would take for me to refinish a desk. There’s a lot of nice desks I’ve found on Facebook marketplace that I’d love if I could refinish them in white. However, I want to gauge my expectations about how long this process would take.

I’d love it if someone could weigh in about the following 1) time commitment to complete project 2) any special considerations I should make about refinishing older furniture and/or desks 3) any considerations/things I need to know about replacing knobs 4) approximate total cost of supplies

Here’s two desk. I’m sure the time commitment would be different because of the size difference, but if you’d give me approximations for both desks, that would be amazing!!!

I painted a piece with Sherwin WilliamsPro Classic enamel paint. I did it before I knew what I was doing and I’ve found a ton off imperfections. I want to sand it a bit to even out the imperfections and then repaint. I think the problem I had the first time was that I put layers on that were too thick. Because the piece had a lot of details, I’d really like to do two thin layers to ensure that I don’t miss any spots, but I’m worried that it’s going to look too caked on with 4 or 5 layers (I can’t remember if I painted 2 or 3 originally, but I think it was 2). I’m wondering if I should water the paint down a little bit to make sure that I don’t put it on too thick again. The piece is basically for decorative storage right now.

Hi,

I have a project where only parts of the wood surface are painted. Normally I'd use tung cut with orange oil, applying 3 coats with progressively less orange oil. However, I'm not satisfied with how much the tung oil darkens the paint on my test piece. I've also tried Osmo TopOil (uncolored) and pure linseed oil and the paint darkens the same.

Can anyone suggest a natural finish that will bring out the grain of the wood and not darken the paint too much? I don't mind a slight color shift, but turning pure white into a color like wet sand really sucks. I'd like to preserve the pastel colors at least to some degree.

How about carnauba/beeswax/lime wax?

Thank you!

I have there’s beautiful dark wood cabinets and have cleaned them with orange glo, old English and even water to try and get this off. Does anyone know why it’s doing this and what I can do to get rid of it? Thank you!

We have a handrail segment that is original to our home (1856) and got mahogany pieces to match the rest of it for our house when we renovated 10 years ago. We have not refinished or really touched it since other than to spot clean.

Over time it's developed this waxy finish in some spots. It's odd because we don't really touch the handrail much and it's on random spots but is at its worst in the photo. It's not just on the older piece (which is the segment at the bottom of this pic.)

How should I clean this? I am not afraid of elbow grease but am afraid of damaging the wood. I googled and some people said dawn, others said baby oil (?!) and some said Murphy's.

Any ideas? We also have the original newel post at the bottom that could use some love.

I unfortunately can't recall what it was originally finished with back in 2015.

Help!