refinish piece of furniture is n’t just a matter of removing one finish and slapping on another ; it also involves preparation of the stripped wood . fix the wood adopt both time and elbow grease , but it ’s critical to the winner of your refinish line of work ; the finishing is only as good as the preparation for it . In this article , we will survey the three basic steps for preparing wood furniture : sanding , bleaching , and sealing . We ’ll beging with the first footfall in most home - repair projects – sanding .
Sanding Technique
Sanding , more than any other part of refinish , is a operation that ca n’t be rushed . It must be done by hand ; powerfulness tools can damage the wood . It must be done cautiously and thoroughly and always with the grain . But it ’s a demanding proficiency only in terms of time , because what it ask is chiefly patience . The care you put into sanding will determine the timbre of the finish . Before you start the work , check that you know the rudiments .
The first rule of sanding is to work with the grain of the wood , because cross - grain sanding can leave lasting and very obvious scratches . The second formula is to practice a sand block , because you ca n’t exert even sanding pressure without one .
For flat surface , the block should be padded ; an unpadded block has no give , and grit catch under the sandpaper can itch the wood as you work . For curving surfaces , your sound wager is a heavyset piece of foam cushioning or quick study covered with sandpaper . The cushioning shapes itself to the curve , providing firm , even pressure .
Good sanding proficiency is soft to learn and apply . Using a sanding closure , sand in farseeing , light , even strokes along the metric grain of the woodwind instrument . Do n’t press out hard ; too much pressure can cause gouging at the edge of the sanding pulley . Change the sandpaper as shortly as it clogs or wears unruffled .
To smoothen the wood evenly and thoroughly , run with in turn fine grades of emery paper . The svelte pitting left by the first sanding will be removed in the next sanding ; the final sanding will move out the last hint of rowdiness . Start sand with common - moxie report – grade 3/0 for most Sir Henry Joseph Wood or grade 4/0 for very sonant woods , such as pine or poplar . Work up to grade 4/0 , 5/0 , and eventually 6/0 sandpaper . Although finer - grit paper would theoretically produce a smoother surface , sandpaper with too hunky-dory a paper can clog the wood and step in with finish .
Sand the intact art object of furniture with each score of emery paper before moving on to the next grade . Between sandings , brush off or vacuum up all sandpaper rubble , and then wipe the woodwind clean with a tack cloth . Dust or gumption caught under the paper can scratch the wood . If there are mingy corner you ca n’t get at with emery paper , employ a very sharp scraper to very carefully smooth the Sir Henry Joseph Wood in these . Scrapers can lead gouge or scrawl , so apply them only when sandpaper is n’t possible .
Rungs, Rounds, and Spindles.
Narrow rungs , mandrel , legs , and other round parts need exceptional discourse . Hard sanding with coarse - gritstone paper , with or without a block , can flatten out or flex round office ; only the lower limit of wood should be slay . To sandpaper orotund persona , cut narrow strips of fine - gritrock – range 5/0 and 6/0 – emery paper ; do n’t use coarser grades at all .
Wrap a strip of sandpaper around the part , crosswise , and extract the end back and forth to buff - sandpaper the wood . Move up and down each one shot , changing your angle of sanding as you work to smooth out the Sir Henry Joseph Wood equally . Be measured not to result horizontal grooves in the Sir Henry Wood at the edges of the sandpaper strip .
Carvings
carving , particularly shallow I , must be treated cautiously . Because coarse sanding could blur the lines of the carving , habituate only o.k. - sand sandpaper , grades 5/0 and 6/0 , to smooth the strip Sir Henry Joseph Wood ; work without a sanding block . Sand light along the grain of the Natalie Wood , press the newspaper into cutout areas with your fingertip . gumption as far down into the carving as you could , but be careful not to flatten rounded surface .
Crevices and Curved Edges
Sand along crevices with a strip of sandpaper creased to suit into the slant of the crevice . Sand only along the crevice , and use slow strokes ; keep the insistency even .
check that the emery paper does n’t slip . If you ’re not careful , you could damage the edges of the wood at the sides of the crack . Sand convex curves cautiously along the curve , crusade lightly with your fingers and being deliberate not to damage any adjoining surfaces or edges . To smooth concave curve , employ a piece of joggle the same diameter as the curve . roll a piece of sandpaper around the joggle , and bear on it carefully back and onward along the bender . At the ends of the curve ball , be careful not to slam the dowel into any adjoining surfaces .
Veneers and Fine Patinas
If the piece of furniture you ’re working on is veneered , it must be treat very cautiously . The common sanding technique could cause serious damage to the forest . The same thing is dead on target for wood with a hunky-dory patina – normal sanding will remove the patina . For the best resultant , veneers and piece with a fine patina should be smoothed very gently .
legato sturdy whole - surface veneers with fine - grit sandpaper , score 5/0 and 6/0 . Do not use coarser grades . On very thin veneers and woodwind with a patina , smoothing is best done with steel woolen . The proficiency is fundamentally the same as for sanding ; all you really need is patience .
set out work out with No . 0 steel fleece if the surface is rough , and go up to Nos . 00 and 000 for the final smoothing . If the control surface is smooth , expend only the finer grades of steel wool . Between grades , brush off or vacuum up all dust and steel woollen junk , and then wipe the wood fair with a saddlery textile .
Raising the Grain
When wood is moistened , the cells that make up the grain swell , raising the grain above the Earth’s surface of the wood . Any liquid make this reaction ; even when the Sir Henry Joseph Wood is swimmingly sand , the ending itself acts to raise the texture . To prevent the appearance of a arouse grain in the ruined opus of furniture , the grain should be purposely grow and then sand down before the finish is applied after the final sanding .
The simplest grain - raiser is water . cadge the sanded man of furniture with frigid water supply , surcharge the wood evenly and good ; then wipe off any excess . The Sir Henry Wood must be evenly fuddled , with no dry spots and no puddles , or it may dry with water stains . Be particularly deliberate not to overwet veneers ; the glue that concur them may be water - soluble .
Let the woods dry out entirely . When it ’s thoroughly dry , the raise fibers of the grain will wedge up rigidly above the airfoil . With level 5/0 or 6/0 emery paper , softly smooth these raised fibers down to the surface of the Sir Henry Joseph Wood ; utilise No . 000 brand wool on very delicate surfaces . Be careful not to roughen the airfoil . Then brush off or vacuum up the sand debris , and pass over the wood clean with a shroud cloth .
Now that you ’ve sand your slice of piece of furniture , you may notice – now more than ever – some worthless stain or discolorations . You might need to bleach the Sir Henry Joseph Wood before you’re able to begin refinish it . Fortunately for you , we have detailed instructions in our next section .
How to Bleach Wood Furniture
In most case , bleaching is essentially a first - aid measure not a quotidian part of refinish . A piece of furniture should be bleached if the open is marked by stains , black ringing , or urine spot ; if the wood is discolored or blotchy ; if the people of color is uneven ; or if an sure-enough soil or filler is go out after the finish is hit . Old makeweight is often a problem with oak , walnut , and mahogany . Bleaching can also be used to even the color of a piece of piece of furniture made with two or more woods . It can buoy up the darker wood to gibe the lighter one .
Before you use whitener on any piece of furniture , make certain the wood is suitable for bleaching . Some woods do n’t take on bleach well – cherry and satinwood , for instance , should never be bleached . Some Natalie Wood , such as bass , cedar tree , chestnut tree , elm , redwood , and rosewood tree , are very difficult to bleach , and some – notably pine and poplar – are so light that bleaching make up them look exanimate . Birch , maple , and walnut tree can be bleached , but bleaching destroys their classifiable color . And the uncommon woods – sepia , teak , and the other choice woods – seldom benefit from bleaching . Common woodwind instrument that are loose to bleach , and may do good from it , include ash , beech tree , gum , and oak .
Choosing a Bleach
Not all bleaching jobs call for the same type of bleach . Depending on the problem you desire to objurgate , you may demand a very potent bleaching factor or a comparatively mild one . Below are some usual bleach options you might want to consider .
Laundry Bleach : This mild blanching agent can solve most refinishing color problems , from spot or makeweight not removed in stripping to ink smear and urine smudge . It works well for blotchy arena and for slight overall lightening , but it wo n’t change the colour of the wood drastically . Before you use a secure bleach on any piece of furniture , try laundry bleach ; it usually does the trick .
Oxalic Acid : Oxalic acid , sell in powder or crystal form , is used to remove black water marks from wood . It is also effective in restoring chemically darken forest to its natural color . You ’re not probable to encounter this problem unless you have a piece of article of furniture commercially strip because lye and ammonia water , the chemicals that discolor Ellen Price Wood , are not recommended for nonprofessional use . Oxalic acid must be used on the entire surface of the wood , because in most cases it also decolourize out sure-enough discolouration . You may have to decolour the intact bit of piece of furniture to get an even color . Oxalic acid is more effective in lighten unfastened - grained wood than close - grained .
Two - Part Bleaches : The two - part commercial-grade wood bleaches are used to relieve or remove the natural color of wood . If you require a dark quondam piece to conform to in with a roomful of blond article of furniture , this is the bleaching agent to use . Two - part bleach is very unassailable and must be used cautiously ; wear out rubber gloves and safety goggles . This type of whitener is also expensive . Several brands are usable .
Bleaching Techniques
Whatever blanching agent you use , remember that the results are permanent – you may be capable to restain if you make the wood too lite , but spotty bleaching is very hard to remediate . ensure the forest is absolutely unclouded , and touch it as little as possible . The bleach must click the wood equally .
Before put on the bleach , test it on a scrap small-arm of the same wood or on a hidden part of the slice of article of furniture . Make certain you have intercourse exactly what the bleach will do and how fast . In cosmopolitan , blanching agent behave rapidly on soft woods and slowly on hard woods .
Bleaching also requires careful software program and removal . With any whitener , habituate a celluloid - bristle brush – the chemical substance will damage raw bristles . Apply the bleach along the grain of the wood , wetting the surface equally and exhaustively ; there should be no ironic spots and no puddle . Let the blanching agent figure out as detail below .
After bleaching , pass over the wood clear with a damp cloth . To remove any residue , neutralize the wood thoroughly ; apply an ammonia solution for oxalic acid , a borax answer for laundry bleach or two - part bleach . Wash the washy wood thoroughly with the appropriate neutralizer ; be thrifty not to overwet it . Then , mould quickly to keep H2O terms , rinse the wood with clean urine and dry it exhaustively with a diffused cloth . Let the piece of article of furniture dry for at least two days before doing any further work on it .
Laundry Bleach
Apply laundry blanching agent full - strength , brush it evenly over the entire open . If you ’re removing spots or lightening discolored areas , enforce bleach full - specialty to those areas . Laundry bleach works quickly . After a arcminute or two , you should be able to see the stain fading . If you ’re bleaching out an sure-enough discolouration , wipe the bleach off with a damp textile when the smirch has relieve .
If you ’re spot - bleaching to remove blot or blend color areas , wait until the decolor bit are roughly the same color as the ease of the wood ; then use blanching agent again over the full surface . Remove the blanching agent with a damp textile when the color is even . eventually , neutralise the regale wood with a solution of 1 cup of borax dissolve in 1 quart of hot water . Neutralize , rinse with clean urine , and dry it thoroughly .
Oxalic Acid
Oxalic acid is not caustic , but it is poisonous . Wear galosh glove and condom goggles , and make trusted ventilation is tolerable . To set up the acid , conflate a concentrated resolution with strong water : 1 ounce of powder or lechatelierite per 1 cupful of warm H2O . verify you prepare enough blanching agent to do by the full aerofoil or piece of furniture .
put on the window pane resolution evenly to the wood , brushing it on along the grain to cover the entire open . On subdued Grant Wood , you ’ll see results very promptly ; on hard forest the bleaching takes longer . allow the Lucy in the sky with diamonds work for about 20 moment , then wipe it off with a dampish fabric . If the surface is n’t amply or evenly bleached , reapply the acid as necessary . On grueling woods , complete bleaching may take up to an hour . Wipe the Mrs. Henry Wood blank with a damp cloth , and wash it with clean water . Then waste it with a root of 1 cup of home ammonia and 2 quarts of water . rinse off it again with clean water , and dry it thoroughly .
Two-Part Bleaches
Two - part bleach is easy to utilise , and usually works very quickly . The two components of the bleaching agent – label " 1 " and " 2 " or " A " and " B " – are ordinarily practice one by one . Read the manufacturer ’s operating instructions and follow them precisely . The first solvent is usually allowed to work for about 20 minute before the 2nd solution is applied .
Post-Bleach Treatment
Treatment with any bleach raises the grain of the wood , even when the piece of furniture has already been thoroughly sanded . To prevent the grow grain from affect the finish , it must be resanded to the degree of the woodwind surface after the wood is dry .
After bleaching , let the opus of furniture dry for at least two day . Then sandpaper the metric grain down lightly with class 5/0 or 6/0 sandpaper ; be thrifty not to roughen the surface . Because there may still be some chemical remainder in the wood , wear a respiration mask and use a vacuum to remove sand detritus . pass over the wood clean with a tack cloth .
One other complication of bleaching , peculiarly with laundry bleaching agent , is that the wood may be leave with a whitish or grayish colour . This is not serious ; it designate that the bleaching agent has dry out the fibers of the woodwind open . On hard woods , it disappear when the finale is applied . On soft woods , the hoar colour may be pronounced and the loose fibers obvious . To remove them , rub the wood firmly along the grain with No . 000 steel woollen ; itch the integral bleached area , and check that the colour is even . The gray cast will disappear completely when the last is applied .
Bleaching is a ornamental touching but it can provide some surprisingly adept result when used at the right sentence .
