# Kitchen Table Finish



## fishbonz (Jul 22, 2008)

I have a kitchen table that has been nearly destroyed by two children and everyday use. The current finish is affected by moisture and heat (turns white) and allways looks smudgey. (Is that a word..Smudgey) 

What would you recommend for an everyday kitchen table that will have cold, wet glasses and warm plates and coffee cups sitting on it every day. Also, durability is a factor with a 3.5 y/o and 1.5 y/o.

Thanks for your input!


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Without knowing what equipment you have if any or what experience you have, an easy finish would be a wipe on oil base polyurethane.


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

I too, would recommend polyurethane. It's a tough finish, which I have used on my own family's table(5 kids) and that of a friend's (3 kids), and on a restaurant bas cabinet. All have held up well for many years now.
However, I'd go brush-on over wipe-on. The reason being that either way, you've got to lightly sand between coats. ( I hate the sanding and cleanup part. It's a PITA) With brush-on, you could do 3 or 4 coats and it would be good. With wipe-on, you'd have to do 6-8 coats to get the same build up of finish. I find it easier to get a good brush stroke across a table, with out smudging. With wipe-on, I have found it difficult to get as good control of the smudging effect from the rag.
The other thing is, the new finish needs to be able to be applied over the old one, or you may need to strip off the old one. Unless there is something like a primer that you can put on first. You could check with Gerry Kiernan about that. He did finish work for many years and seems to have a lot of knowledge about it. Although he'd probably tell you to use something other than poly.(I think he hates the stuff)


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## fishbonz (Jul 22, 2008)

Thanks for your input. FYI. My experience is somewhat limited. 

Any tips on how to handle the table leaves? Should I finish them all together with the table put together or should they all be seperate. I am worried about keeping the finish even yet don't want to poly them into one solid table top.

Thanks again!


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi fishbonz

I would suggest that you strip the old finish completely and start from scratch. A good chemical stripper is the easiest way to go. Then you can stain the wood, if you desire, to the shade you like the best. For an indoor table polyurethane or varathane should work well. I have never used poly or varathane as a wipe on, so I have no experience there. I have used brush on. Either can be sprayed on if you have access to the equipment. You might want to thin the material a bit to get it to flow more smoothly for brushing, and for best results let the finish dry thoroughly and wet sand lightly between coats. The can instructions say you can apply a second coat over the first in three to four hours, but I have found this to be somewhat iffy. Initial coats can be wet sanded with 240 grit wet/dry paper, and later coats can go finer. The finer the paper the smoother the finish. 400 grit will probably be as high as you need to go.Three or four coats will usually give you a decent depth, but you can put as many coats on as your patience will allow. If you don't care for a gloss finish go with satin. It gives a very nice low luster finish.
If you are brushing your finish on you don't have to clean out the brush after every application. Place the brush in a ziplok bag and put it into your freezer. When you go to use it again let it thaw and proceed. Saves a lot of cleanup time, as well as reducing the amount of expensive thinners required. This works well for paint brushes too.

Thank you for your kind words mark but I am merely a home dabbler for many years, and not even close to being an experienced refinisher. I have learned a great deal from the more experienced members of this forum, and continue to learn every day. I think that poly urethane is a good product to use if the item is going to be subjected to a lot of uv from sunshine, although other people are saying they have used it outdoors and been disappointed in the end. I have a front door that I refinished with it, last year, so I'll let you know in a few years what I think.

Good luck with your table fishbonz and let us know how it goes.

Gerry


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Whoops! Maybe it was a different Jerry I was thinking of.


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

mmwood_1 said:


> Whoops! Maybe it was a different Jerry I was thinking of.


No problem. That's the first time my reputation exceeded even my opinion of me.:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Gerry


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi again fishbonz.

You can do the leaves at the same time as you do the rest of the table top, but leave some space between them so you don't glue everything together, and be careful with runoff so as not to get it into your sliders.

Gerry


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