Made this hall table probably 20 years ago. Curly maple top w/ a walnut base. Wife sat plants on it and they leaked, unnoticed, for a while. Started with 100 grit sandpaper, worked through to 150. Removed 90% of the damage. There was some deep discoloration I didn’t feel like hogging out. You can see the lighter spots. Old finish wanted to clog the paper and was a pita. At this point I applied the first round of honey amber aniline dye. Then sanded again with 150. Aniline dye is a water base “stain”. Just wipe on w/ a lint free rag. Next couple layers I put it on “thick”, then sanded w/ 220. What this does is, allows the areas of curly grain that are oriented in a way to easily suck up dye, to do that. Then the areas that are not, the sanding removes the surface dye. Repeated application makes the curly figure stand out more because the dye penetrated deeper in the differently oriented grain. Hope that made sense.
Too many pics to keep situated in one post. Final sanding. Heavy application of last coat. Here shows air drying. Completely dry. Then I used 000 steel wool. Moved to basement for finish coats. Poured copious amounts of oil on and rubbed it in w/ a cloth till it quit absorbing. Then buffed excess. Directions say 24hrs between coats. I’ll probably do 3, then wax.
Always. You can see ears up, he’s guarding/keeping me safe. Must be a bird where he’s looking. Nothing is safe in the yard except people. There’s a couple rabbits he chases on the regular. Usually 2 laps around the wood pile every time he is let out.
Thanks. We’ve moved it from the dining room window to our living room. It now holds 4 crates full of vinyl records. I don’t think it will be permanent however because we plan a dining & living rooms remodel as soon as I get back to work. I’ll more than likely build a rack to store them when that happens. I promise not another plant will leak on it, ever.
Second coat of oil went on this morning. Let it sit outside all day and it set up nicely. Just got done buffing the second coat of wax with 0000 steel wool to get the luster I desired. I’m calling it done. I liked it better with natural color maple. The finish I used back then went hard in the can and is no longer available. It was a tung oil varnish. I always loved working with walnut. This leg was 1/4 sawn and you can see rays. Love it.
