Browse Forums DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair 1 May 04, 2009 9:10 am Hi
I have just bought a secondhand dining table off ebay and will be delivered Thursday, but now I am wondering what are the best options for sanding it back so I can restain it and varnish it it a nice dark walnut or chocolate colour. I was thinking of buying some type of electric sander, but don't want to spend too much. Should I buy a belt sander or Orbital sander? I just found on this website a little info about sanders. http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2001/archives/2001_archives/in_the_garden/gardening_tips,_books,_techniques_and_tools/sanders I noticed on Bunnings website you can get sanders for around the $150 mark. I have never used an electric sander as when I did my coffee table I sanded it all by hand, but it took a long time! Any advice would be fantastic. Here is a picture of the table as well. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 2May 04, 2009 10:34 am How much do you have to sand off? If there are deep scratches, you'll need to find out whether it is made of ply or solid. Orbital sander is way to go (belt sander can easily go far too deep at one spot). Chris Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 3May 04, 2009 10:46 am I'm not sure how much needs removing, but she mentioned something about it just being teak oil... It didn't look that thick, but I guess it depends on the scratches where the extension bit has been slid out without being lifted up. I'll know better on Thursday night. So orbital sander is the way to go. I'll go have a look at Bunnings at lunch and see what they have. Thanks you Chris for your help Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 4May 04, 2009 3:43 pm Hi fitnhealthy i also have a old dining table ,still in reasonably good nic, was my parents, and im looking at sanding it back and staining it a chocolate colour to match the decor also the chairs need to be recovered. but im wondering how do you go about staining and polishin?
Anyone sanded and polished furniture before ? is it hard to do? I think its a better way to go than buying new . Just look at your pics your table and chairs are the same colour and style bet its from the 70s mine is Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 5May 04, 2009 3:55 pm Clath the people I bought it my table from said my table would be at least 40 years old, so I guess that is going back towards that era. I would love to know how you end up making a chocolate colour... I read on another forum about mixing a walnut type colour with a small amount of Japanese Black... Has anyone heard of this? I just bought a Ryobi random orbital sander from Bunnings for around $70 so hopefully it does the job. I can hoping to test it out on a bedside cupboard tonight perhaps. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 6May 04, 2009 4:10 pm fitnhealthy Clath the people I bought it my table from said my table would be at least 40 years old, so I guess that is going back towards that era. I would love to know how you end up making a chocolate colour... I read on another forum about mixing a walnut type colour with a small amount of Japanese Black... Has anyone heard of this? I just bought a Ryobi random orbital sander from Bunnings for around $70 so hopefully it does the job. I can hoping to test it out on a bedside cupboard tonight perhaps. Cool let me know how you go, Give it a go no harm in trying, i reckon you could pick up a chocolate stain from bunnings,? i have a what i think is an art deco buffet not sure ,which was my parents, a queen ann double bed , bedside tables and dressing table in fact alot of my furniture is my parents cant afford to buy new as yet. Would love to do them up, Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 7May 04, 2009 4:18 pm I personally think it is much more rewarding doing up furniture. I did up my coffee table and I think it looks fantastic and still enjoy looking at it and knowing I made it look like that. I did that in a Walnut colour I think and I did quite a few coats so that it was a nice dark colour. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 8May 04, 2009 4:28 pm I also have a old garden bench also my parents must be at least 50 years old. and also wanted to sand it back and repaint it but kept on putting it off because i didnt know how to go about it, but one night i was watching better homes and gardens, the guy was showing how to doing up a old metal fence . i thought i can that with the bench seat as the legs are metal n rusty n the slats are wooden , so the next day went to mitre ten bought wot i needed and now im in the middle of doing up that bench, its giving me the inspiration now to maybe do it as a hobby, buy old furniture and do it up. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 9May 04, 2009 4:43 pm Cool that sounds great Clath. I'd love to see the befores and afters of the bench... Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 10May 04, 2009 6:48 pm Hi Fitnhealthy, My 2c worth of a few tips ; - From the photos it looks more like a poly finish, looks like there's a gloss to it that oil generally doesn't have, unless it's been waxed and buffed on top of the oil. Might just be the low res photo though....... - If it was poly and I was doing this job I'd use paint stripper first, to save myself heaps of work and sanding pads, particularly on the curvy bits. - Figure out whether the top is veneer or not, if it's veneer and you sand through the veneer then you're in trouble. - When you use a random orbital, place it on the surface of what you're sanding then turn it on and start moving it. If you fire it up and then place it on the surface while it's spinning you're likely to have an edge of the disc dig in and gouge the surface. - It's well worth hooking up dust extraction to your sander if it's got an extraction port. This will keep the pad clean, you'll get heaps more life out of each pad and a better finish on what you're sanding because you wont be dragging accumulated gunk across the surface that's stuck in the pad. - If your sander is variable speed, experiment (on an unseen area like the underside of the tabletop) with the speed setting to get the best sanding result possible. Cheers, Justin. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 11May 04, 2009 7:45 pm Thank you Justin That is really helpful. I just tried the sander out on a bedside cupboard I bought for $7.50. Not sure if I want it yet or not, but it was interesting trying out the sander. Even though the cupboard only looked like it had a very thin varnish it still took a little while, but it seemed if I put a little weight on it, it worked quicker, otherwise it didn't really seem to do much even on the coarsest sanding paper. It was a lot of fun playing with it though. I can't wait to get my table and try it out underneath first to see how it goes. How will I know if it is poly? I will have a look when I get it. Does that mean it is quite thick and shiny gloss type cover? Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 12May 05, 2009 12:14 am fitnhealthy How will I know if it is poly? I will have a look when I get it. Does that mean it is quite thick and shiny gloss type cover? Yep, that's it. Poly builds up a film on the surface, whereas oil seeps into the grain and gives you a more natural appearance. I'm not a fan of poly at all, I think it makes timber look like it's been dipped in plastic. If the finish is thin and shiny, is possible that it was sprayed during production. Given it's age it the finish may be nitrocellulose lacquer. NC is a REALLY hard finish, and all I can say is that you'll need a lot of patience to get through it....... With regards to using your orbital, don't put too much weight on it during use, or you'll clog the pad. It might be tempting but you've got to let the abrasive do the cutting, it's like using a handsaw, don't use too much pressure. The pads are loaded with lots of tiny aluminium oxide crystals, they are what gives the cutting action. If you push too hard you'll overheat them and they'll go prematurely blunt. If you take your time and work up through the grades of paper you should be right. What's the coarsest grade you've started with ? It will take you a long time to get through a thick layer of finish on a tabletop with a random orbital, this is why I suggest using stripper first, you'll save a bunch of time and sanding pads. You'll have to do it outside though, some strippers are pretty nasty on the respiratory system, and it's a very messy job. I prefer to use a heat gun and a scraper, but this needs practice or else you can put burn marks in your timber if you linger to long in one area, and if done indoors (and maybe outdoors as well depending upon your appetite for risk) you need to wear a really good respirator with something like carbon filter canisters, because of the fumes. Good luck, just be patient and even if the result is a bit of a shocker in your eyes you'll be surprised how many genuine compliments you'll get on the end result. Cheers, Justin. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 13May 05, 2009 8:39 am Thank you Justin I think I went up to or down to 60 as the coarsest. It was the coarsest one that came with the sander. It was actually working really well when I used the second piece... I'll let you know how I go, hopefully I'll get a chance to try it out this weekend. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 15May 05, 2009 9:31 pm No just a very serious amateur woodworker. I prefer to build stuff from scratch, to my own design, rather than fix up existing pieces. I did do a bit of resto work though when I was renovating our old place, plus it was covered in a TAFE course I did on finishing. Cheers, Justin. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 16May 06, 2009 9:22 pm Justin No just a very serious amateur woodworker. I prefer to build stuff from scratch, to my own design, rather than fix up existing pieces. I did do a bit of resto work though when I was renovating our old place, plus it was covered in a TAFE course I did on finishing. Cheers, Justin. Good on you Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 17May 07, 2009 9:08 am My dining table turned up last night a day early, which was fantastic so I got straight into sanding the legs and base (as the table top lifts off) and the electric sander worked fantastic. I then went over manually with sandpaper to get the corners and things missed. I am now finished the base, but I went to do the table top, but it looks like veneer... I rang my brother, but he's not sure over the phone, but he said he'd look for me. If it is veneer can I still sand it back and restain it? Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 18May 07, 2009 2:57 pm fitnhealthy If it is veneer can I still sand it back and restain it? Yes you can, but the surface layer of veneer will be very thin, so you need to be super careful when sanding so you don't sand through the veneer. Underneath the veneer is called the substrate, and some substrates can be pretty ugly and quite different from the veneer. Depending on how thick the finish is that you're trying to sand off, you should hand sand the tabletop, either start with the ROS and finish by hand, or do it completely by hand. In any case, it's best to finish a piece sanded with a ROS by some hand sanding. If you look closely, the ROS will leave tiny swirly j shaped scratches in the grain of the timber. They may not look obvious now but will show up a lot more when you stain. I'd recommend sanding with ROS up to 120 grit, then hand sanding parallel with the grain of the timber with 120 and then again by hand with 180. You could write a book about what grit you should go up to (240?, 320? 400?), it all gets a bit scientific depending upon what type of timber, stain, finish and effect you're looking for. 180 will probably do fine for what you want to do, but you can experiment on the underside if you're striving for perfection. Also be aware that veneer will take a stain (absorb) differently to solid timber. If the top is veneer and the frames are solid, you might get some tonal differences between areas. Again, non-visible parts are handy to experiment on and preview the end result. That's why I like building from scratch, you control material selection and get lots of lovely offcuts to experiment on If you want to preview what the bare sanded timber will look like with a clear finish on it, wet a rag with some metho and wipe it across a section. Don't use water, this will swell the fibres of the timber (AKA raise the grain), and will roughen all your nice smooth sanding. Metho still raises the grain slightly, but not much compared to water. Have fun, Justin. Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 19May 07, 2009 3:01 pm Thank you Justin, I will give it a go tonight... Re: Tips on sanding Dining Table 20May 15, 2009 10:34 pm Here is the finished product almost. It just needs one more coat of estapol and I haven't put the extension bits back in as I can't do it on my own without scratching it. It was $109 for the table inc delivery $70 for sander, which will be used again $60 for supplies (stain, varnish etc) So a very cheap table, but now on the lookout for secondhand chairs that I like, which I can do up to match the table stain. It's not perfect, but I am very happy with it. The colour I used is Wattyl Wood Gel Wenge. I am going to post this so I don't lose it, am having trouble posting the photo, but will keep trying The significant date is when receive final payment invoice Check that section of contract Bit of fluff by builders prior to that 1 15957 Hi, Really struggling to find some consistency amongst Span Tables, can anyone help… 0 2755 Can anyone suggest a house layout where the kitchen-dining - living runs the length across the rear of the house left to right where our best view will be we… 0 4419 |