The Table From Hell

Greetings, first time here and working on my first refinishing project.

I'm having a problem with an old table, antique but nothing valuable. Just a nice old table, drop leaf, early american style. Wood veneer is in great shape, appears to be mahogony. It was refinished at one point, and that is part of the problem. It appears different method/finish was used on some of the table top. I'm working only on the top.

I used citristrip on the entire surface. It removed the old finish satisfactorialy except for two sectionswhich dried darker. When I sanded with 400 grit/orbital on those two the surface "pilled up" like little gumballs under the paper which I take to mean it still had finish on it.

I used citristrip twice more and got most of the remaining finish off but not all. I then went to 3M "safest stripper" and that did work to get most of the remaining off.

I found the 3M material was hard to work, it is very picky about how thick you put it on while the citristrip flows well over thin spots. So I was left with a surface that still had bits of finish here and there. I then put more citristrip on those areas only overnight, and removed it this morning. After cleaning with mineral spirits and drying about 6 hours it looks like the images attached.

I did try some stain to see what it would look like on those sections. I am concerned I wont get a nice, even color of the stain. The areas stripped clean by the 3M stripper appear to be bleached out.

What to do now??? I'm at a loss.

--karl in wa

Hi Karl,

wow - what a journey you've had to get the stain off the table. Interesting experience you've had with the 3M stuff.

In my limited finishing experience, I'd say that careful sanding of the top is needed to try to get past the bleaching as much as possible, without taking off too much of the table. :rolleyes:

I think, considering the table, that maybe testing on a similar piece of timber would be wisest. Maybe using the citrus 3M strippers on it, to see if you get the same bleaching effect, then then consider putting on the thinnest/weakest stain mix to do a gradual build up of stain/finish. Hopefully after the first coat, you'd be able to see where to put more stain and leave it a little longer before wiping it off/wiping it in to meld it into the next area, the aim here to gently and gradually even out the colour.

Others with more experience, may have better advice than my suggestions.

Good luck with the table. Hope you can post more progress shots.

cheers
RufflyRustic

Thanks. I should have RTFM on the 3M stuff. I was cleaning it off with mineral spirts, should have been using water and a pad. I guess its a water based stripper, dibasic ester. Dry off with paper towel. Once I did that after another go with the 3M on those areas, its looking much better. Only have a few spots left, and then it will be done.

Just in case I went to my olde tyme hardware store and went nuclear--got some zip strip (has the evil methylene chloride).

Progress report on "The Table from Hell". I got all the finish off, a pic is attached. I dont know why there is such a difference, as you can see. It was taken after I sanded and before stained.

Also is the stained table. Looks much nicer, but you can see the two sections arent as red as the rest of it. Not sure how that is going to show up when I topcoat it.

BTW, what is a better sheen for this kind of table--satin or gloss? I'm going to use the minwax wipe-on poly.

Personally I think a satin would be better in this case; given that I've found that gloss's slightly accentuate uneven colouring.

Just my personal experience, mind.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by karlinwa

BTW, what is a better sheen for this kind of table--satin or gloss? I'm going to use the minwax wipe-on poly.

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Use the gloss. It comes out as a sheen anyway.