# Finishing Dining Table Made of Mango Wood



## cwsartain (Aug 17, 2016)

I am new to this forum and have a question about a piece of furniture I just ordered. I ordered a dining room table that's made out of mango wood and it has great reviews. However, one common con of this table is that it's easily stainable. Food or liquids easily stain the top of the table. Here's a link to the table, http://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Dec...-Table-in-Antique-Walnut-1673100960/206083455.

I know you shouldn't have to do any work on a new table that you buy, but at such a reasonable price, I don't mind doing a little work to it to prevent stains, if it's worth it. Thats why I'm posting the question here to get your opinion if it's worth resanding, restaining and clearing the top of the table, if that'll prevent it from soaking in food stains and such. If yall think that's impossible or not worth the work, then I'll cancel my order.

Intuitively I feel like I could probably just apply some kind of sealant to it since it comes already stained, when its delivered. But worse case scenario would be to strip the top and stain and poly or wax it. But I've never worked with mango wood before.

What should I do?


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

cwsartain said:


> I am new to this forum and have a question about a piece of furniture I just ordered. I ordered a dining room table that's made out of mango wood and it has great reviews. However, one common con of this table is that it's easily stainable. Food or liquids easily stain the top of the table. Here's a link to the table, http://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Dec...-Table-in-Antique-Walnut-1673100960/206083455.
> 
> I know you shouldn't have to do any work on a new table that you buy, but at such a reasonable price, I don't mind doing a little work to it to prevent stains, if it's worth it. Thats why I'm posting the question here to get your opinion if it's worth resanding, restaining and clearing the top of the table, if that'll prevent it from soaking in food stains and such. If yall think that's impossible or not worth the work, then I'll cancel my order.
> 
> ...


If you don't have the means of spraying I would leave it alone. Not being there to see the table it might be a good idea to leave it alone anyway. They don't say specifically what kind of lacquer is on the table and assuming it's the worst kind unless you spill something on the table and just let it sit overnight you aren't going to have a problem. The worst kind is known as nitrocellulose lacquer. It will stain with prolong exposure or like if you set a sweaty glass in the same spot day after day over several months the finish will start getting white spots in it and eventually peal off. When some spots like that start to appear you could clean the table off and put a drop of lacquer thinner on the white spots and melt them away and then spray a fresh coat of lacquer over the entire top. I say spray because lacquer is a finish that doesn't brush well, even the so-called brushing lacquer should be sprayed. The finish just dried too fast especially for the application of a table top. 

If you just feel like you have to recoat the table, clean the table with a cleaner such as windex to remove any hand oils which might be on the surface. Then lightly sand the finish with the grain with 220 or finer grit paper just enough to scuff it up and spray a coat or two of fresh lacquer over the top. A pre-catalyzed or fully catalyzed lacquer would be a better finish than the nitrocellulose type lacquer. They only come in gallons though and the pre-catalyzed probably has a shelf life of only about six months.


----------



## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

The link you provided shows:
"Aldridge 53 in. Round Dining Table in Antique Walnut"

Did you special order "Mango"?

Any wood will stain if it's not sealed and finished with something. I'd use a top grade poly-urethane on it ... but then, I use that for every thing I do.
The other option I use sometimes ... have a glass shop cut a top for it. Looks great, can be replaced if needed, and nothing can be cleaned and sterilized like glass.


----------



## cwsartain (Aug 17, 2016)

mikechell said:


> The link you provided shows:
> "Aldridge 53 in. Round Dining Table in Antique Walnut"
> 
> Did you special order "Mango"?
> ...


If you read in the specifications, you'll see where its made of mango wood. But has antique walnut finish.

Would I be safe to put a few coats of poly urethane right on top of the table as is without sanding it if it has only been stained and not sealed? And if for whatever reason it doesnt turn out as expected, I assume i could sand it all back down and start over?


----------



## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

Ah, sorry, didn't read that part. But after reading that, I did open the "care and service manual" where it says ...

"This product is carefully coated with high quality lacquer. It will
not have effect if coffee, tea, water or wine is dropped.
However we recommend you to clean these materials with a
dry cloth."

"We recommend you to clean the product with a damp cloth. A
bees wax can be used for regular maintenance of this product."

So, I take back my recommendation for poly-urethane, but iterate my recommendation for having a glass top made.


----------



## cwsartain (Aug 17, 2016)

mikechell said:


> Ah, sorry, didn't read that part. But after reading that, I did open the "care and service manual" where it says ...
> 
> "This product is carefully coated with high quality lacquer. It will
> not have effect if coffee, tea, water or wine is dropped.
> ...


Okay I'll probably just have a glass top made. I read through the reviews and alot of them said that it stained very easily from food and spilled drinks.


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

cwsartain said:


> If you read in the specifications, you'll see where its made of mango wood. But has antique walnut finish.
> 
> Would I be safe to put a few coats of poly urethane right on top of the table as is without sanding it if it has only been stained and not sealed? And if for whatever reason it doesnt turn out as expected, I assume i could sand it all back down and start over?


No, don't put polyurethane over lacquer. It won't adhere very well. The only common finishes you could put over lacquer is shellac and lacquer and the lacquer that is there is a better finish than shellac. 

Regardless of what finish it was recoated with the existing finish would need to be sanded. You don't sand the old finish off you just scuff the finish so the new finish can get a bite on the old finish. Lacquer tends to melt into the previous finish however if it goes on dry enough without being scuff sanded it can peal. The scuff sanding helps the solvents in the lacquer melt into the existing finish. If the table has a fully catalyzed finish on it the cured finish would resist another coat melting into it.


----------



## Thomas W (Jul 30, 2019)

hey i know im late and i dont have a mango type table but i do have a teak table (very minimal knowledge on this) that i ordered on amazon and was wanted your opinion on ways to customize it without damaging it. any suggestions?

https://www.amazon.com/Capri-Outdoo...k+wood+table&qid=1568235087&s=gateway&sr=8-15


----------

