My wife and I have a coffee table that we’ve had for over 20 years. I recently sanded it and refinished it. The wood is oak and I stained it with an oil based stain. I elected not to put any polyeurethane on it.
Periodically I do put oil on it and that makes it look good but then it just gets this really really dull appearance. Which is surprising since immediately after I finished it, it looked spectacular as if it were brand new again.
Any thoughts on what’s going on and what I need to do to bring it back to life? If it matters, I live in New Mexico and the relative humidity is very low (around 15%). does that have anything to do with what I’m seeing?
Replies
What type of stain did you use? It sounds like it was something like Minwax oil stain. If so, the stain will never have any gloss to it. It is strickly a pigment that lays on the surface of the wood held on by a very small amount of resin. It's not intended to be a stand alone finish. It should be overcoated with some type of clear finish. It will never keep its looks unless you put a film type finish over it. Oils just get absorbed and dry out.
Given that it is a coffee table, some type of more durable finish would be in order. Get a wipe-on varnish and wipe on 3-4 coats.
minwax... yup.
varnish... ok. any prep i need to do before varnish given that i've put oil on it a few times?
Assuming you did you a drying oil such as BLO or Tung Oil, all you need to do is not apply varnish until the oil has cured, particularly if you use a non-polyurethane varnish. Behlen Rockhard is a very good varnish--and you can thin it roughly 50-50 if you want to use it as a wiping varnish.
What I would do is first be sure the oil has dried then I would wipe it down with mineral spirits and dry it using lots of paper towels. This will remove any residual oil and remove any gunk that may be on the surface. Let everything dry and apply your clear coat per the label directions.Howie.........
Ramblin,
You have provided a candid description why an oil (only) finish is not really a finish.
Rich
yup. I guess I learned the hard way. I looked at that old coffe table and thought about how good it used to look (before two golden retrievers entered the family that liked to 'perch' under there and scratched the wood) and decided that I was going to make it look brand new again.
Well I did and it did look brand new again... for a couple of weeks. so i put oil on it and it looked good and I thought problem solved.... then it just got to the point where it always looked dull and unimpressive. Right now, I'm embarassed to say I had anything to do with the refinish...
many thanks.
al
If you're going to be doing much finishing, there are some great books that will help you really understand how to make choices among finishes, and how to apply them once chosen. Many here will recommend Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing: How to Select and Apply the Right Finish."My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
Hi Ramblin',
I've attached a snapshot of a few pieces finished by sanding in Liberon finishing oil. The Shaker boxes are Torrey pine; the cutting boards are off-cuts from a coffee table made of five different hardwood species.
Both pictures were taken a few years ago, and the pieces still look good today according to the people who now own them. Unfortunately, I screwed-up and somehow lost the pictures of the completed coffee table; I used the sanded-in oil finish because it's so easy to repair and renew, but, as insurance, applied Rock Hard varnish to the top to resist spilled drinks, etc. When I last saw it, after a few years of use, the legs and aprons (finished only with oil) still looked as good as the varnished top.
I've also attached a snapshot of a rocking chair made by Russ Filbeck,who applies sanded-in Liberon finishing oil to all of his award winning chairs.
By the way, two light coats of Liberon Black Bison paste wax was applied to all of the pieces in both photographs.
Good luck with your coffee table,
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Impressive and thanks for the tips.
al
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled