French Polishing and Bespoke Furniture
It all starts with sanding . You need a smooth surface with no blemishes because stain will highlight scratches and dings in the wood . Always sand down to clean wood (if you have enough meat left of the wood ) before applying any stain . Too fine and the wood won’t be able to accept the stain .
Stripping is Faster and Often Safer. It’s almost always better to strip than to sand . To begin with, except in cases where the old finish is flaking off, it’s a lot more work to sand than to strip using a paint-and-varnish remover.
Use a coarse sandpaper , a sanding block or a power sander to strip the finish off until the surface is smooth. Once most of the finish is off, switch to medium grit sandpaper to further remove any shine. Finally, finish off with a fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the wood until all finish is completely removed.
Minwax® PolyShades® is an easy way to change the color of your currently stained or polyurethane finished wood. There’s no stripping or heavy sanding necessary to remove the old finish!
A: If you don’t apply some kind of sealer the wood will be dried-out and lifeless. When you rub stain into wood , it brings out the grain pattern and gives the wood a more dramatic look. The final step in staining wood is to wipe off any excess, so the process leaves nothing behind.
Here is the process: Using a chip brush and working in sections, brush on the Klean Strip Stripper relatively thickly. Scrape off the stripper and finish using a plastic scraping tool. Rinse off the surface with lacquer thinner, rubbing with steel wool. Allow to dry, and you’re done!
The best paint stripper Best Overall: Citri-Strip Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel. Most Eco Friendly: Dumond Smart Strip Advanced Paint Remover. Fastest Working: Sunnyside 2-Minute Advanced Paint Remover. Most Family Friendly: MAX Strip Paint & Varnish Stripper. Most Heavy Duty: Dumond Peel Away 1 Heavy-Duty Paint Remover.
Here are 5 Ways To Paint Furniture Without Sanding : USE A MINERAL PAINT . Mineral paint is very similar to chalk style paints in that no prep or prime is required. USE MILK PAINT + BONDING AGENT. As I already mentioned, the antique desk in this post was not prep- sanded . USE A BONDING PRIMER. USE A LIQUID SANDER /DEGLOSSER.
If you don’t raise the grain now, the stain will raise it later, but re-sanding to get the wood smooth again removes much of the stain . Let the wood dry, then sand with 180- to 220-grit paper.
You can paint over stained wood trim, cabinets, doors, furniture, or most any other stained wood , however you must prepare the stained wood before painting so the paint will stick.
When You Can Skip Sanding , Deglossing and Priming If the finish on your furniture isn’t damaged or chipping, it’s flat not shiny and you aren’t painting it a drastically different color, then you may be able to just go ahead and start painting . Before painting though, do make sure the piece is clean.
Detail Sander : When you want to finish furniture, a detail sander is a great tool. The small triangular design of this sander makes it ideal for getting into tight spaces.
Medium and fine grades of sandpaper are generally used in refinishing furniture and antiques. Coarse grits (those under #100) damage a fine wood finish. Medium grits, such as #120 and #150, are useful for removing old finish or scratches.