# Table Refinishing



## Timothy DeMott (May 24, 2019)

Hi Everyone! 

I'm pretty new to wood working and my first project is refinishing what will be our dining room table. 

This table is in pretty rough shape. it has been in our family as long as I can remember and took a pretty intense beating through out my entire childhood. there were 8 kids in my family and we were homeschooled so this served as the main workspace for every craft and science project. 

Anyway, I've been having some trouble finding any good resources that talk about refinishing something with this much damage--specifically the deeper gouges. I love the character but I'm trying to figure out how to get a smooth surface as a finished project. 

Any advice would be much appreciated! 

Thanks,
-Tim


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

Welcome to the forum, Tim! Add your location to your profile so it shows in the side panel.

Someone will be along shortly to help with your questions. There's another table in similar condition where this is being discussed on the forum if you want to take a look at it in the meantime.

David


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

There are a number of things you can do. Generally anytime you refinish wood it should start with a paint and varnish remover. Sanding tends to get what is on the surface and leaves what is penetrated into the wood and then causes problems with the new finish. In your case so much wood needs to come off the top except for gumming up sandpaper stripping isn't necessary. 

One thing you might consider is to remove the top and find someone with a wide planer or timesaver sander and resurface the top. Another option might be to rent a floor sander. You could also remove a lot of wood with a hand held belt sander. Start by sanding the wood cross grain with a coarse belt until you get fairly close to having the surface level. Then change to finer belts and sand with the grain until you remove the marks caused by cross grain sanding. Finally do the finish sanding with an orbital sander.


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## Timothy DeMott (May 24, 2019)

Thanks David! the other post is actually super helpful. I love the distressed look and am considering epoxy myself so that thread is valuable information to me!


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## BernieL (Oct 28, 2011)

How thick is the top? If it is 1 inch plus, you could smooth it with a router and a simple sled you could build... Further instructions could follow depending on your answer too my question...


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

i would first start out by bleaching the whole surface. 

Then I would get some kind of pick (Harbor Freight Sells them in sets of 3 - very cheap) and pick out the really loose stiff in the holes. A Dremmel with a small bit will work better.

Then when everything everything was to my satisfaction, I would do some heavy sanding on top and work to finer grits up to about 150.

Next, you would have 2 choices - epoxy or Bondo.to fill the holes. Epoxy is way better but much more expensive. Bondo is pretty cheap and esy enough to work with. Either one dries fast enough to not slow you down. You would have to dye both of them to a darker color than the anticipated final color. The Dye MUST be applied BEFORE you mix the two components (Part A and Part B). Experiment on the underide of the table. Also keep in mind that the Bondo sands easily and Epoxy does not. On a soft surface table top the epoxy over fill or spread could be a major problem if you are not used to using it. 

Then after the holes are filled and leveled with a putty type knife, you will go back with 150 grit sanding. And when all looks good, you are ready for the stain. The epoxy or Bondo fillers will not take the stain AT ALL! That is why it was stained before mixing and using.

After staining use the finish coat of your choice. If you are new at this, I would recommend polyurethane - not the best of finishes but very easy to apply and has more than adequate properties for protecting the table top. 

The above procedure is pretty much Bleach - Fill - Finish.

Best of luck in whatever you decide


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## Larry42 (Jan 10, 2014)

If any "furniture polish", or any type of oil was ever on the table you need to get rid of as much of it as you can before you do anything else, including sanding. The dings need to be cleaned to bare wood before filling. Epoxy would be my choice but is more difficult to do. Bondo is easy, just don't over catalyze it. There are a variety of colorants you can get for either. Like said add colorants first before the catalyst. Urethane is easy to use and pretty durable. You can get a smoother finish if you add some flow enhancer. Check with places that sell to professional finishers. Disadvantage to urethane is its slow set. Gives plenty of time for dust to get stuck in it. If you know someone that finishes for a living and has a spray booth a catalyzed varnish would be the finish of choice. NOT for an amateur! They are toxic!


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## Timothy DeMott (May 24, 2019)

*thanks*

thanks everyone for the advice. in the end I decided to sand the sh** out of the top and fill the gouges with filler. The I just flipped it over and used the bottom as the new top...I cut off about 1/2 inch all the way around to get rid of the cracked edges and re-routered the edge (this time on the bottom) with a round-over bit then recut the accent groove. I know this is kind of cheating but as I'm new to this I think it will be a better result for what I need right now. Really looking forward to experimenting with everyone's suggestions on future projects though!


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