I am purchasing new desks for my office and have fallen in love with vintage Danish Modern stuff. Most vendors refinish pieces with a lacquer, but a few use mineral oil.

If a desk is finished in mineral oil, will that stain papers or books that sit on it? Any other advantages/disadvantages to be aware of?

HELP!

I had new white oak cabinets made for a bathroom, and the cabinet maker recommended just a clear coat to try to achieve the look I wanted.

Well….they are just too amber and I am not happy with it at all.

I have experience with sanding/stripping wood furniture but since these are new I want to be extra cautious I am taking the right steps, and these are shaker doors so the center panel is white oak veneer so I am aware that you have to be delicate there. Thankfully being shaker there isn’t a ton of detail…the most being on the crown molding.

I would really like to avoid using any kind of chemical stripper, BUT if required to get that last bit of clear coat out of crevices etc what is best to use while maintaining the integrity of the wood? The last thing I want is to damage it. I am going to apply a stain but it’s just more of a white washed type mix (a Renner product) to counter the ambering and then apply a clear coat (also Renner).

This is the product I want to use for staining. https://www.finefinishsupply.com/product-page/natural-white-oak-wiping-stain. This is a mix from this company and from watching their videos this should produce the exact look I am wanting to achieve.

Before I start this venture, ANY and all advice is appreciated.

I have a very distressed old table with a table top that shows a nice grain. I think this is walnut (?). However, even after sanding the entire top I see these little rows of dots running perpendicular to the grain. Looks like a fingerprint sort of. What is this? Even after sanding I see these. No other surface on the table has these dots. Thank you!

Hello skilled wood refinishers! Looking for some advice on how to remove the dark patches in this small vintage tabletop. The original finish was in rough shape and patches were entirely worn to the wood. After stripping and sanding, those same patches are visibly darker than the areas where the finish was intact.

I’m assuming that the wood darkened due to light exposure over time?

Should I keep sanding in hopes that I can get an even colored surface, do I need to use some sort of bleach or other product, or is it even possible to achieve what I’m after?

Hello everyone. I'm working on an all pine LFL for my girlfriends birthday. I painted it already with latex paint. It's going to be in the elements all day every day so I want it sealed up really well. I went and picked out an oil based spar unrethane but it's pretty brown, and there's a lot of light colors on the LFL and now it just looks really filthy and bad. I really need some advice on how to fix this. I can wait for it to dry but I probably don't have time to wait for it to cure. Someone please help! Thanks!

Please help. I have these antique speakers and a bubble machine was placed on top and left a water stain. Right now it’s wet. I am trying to dry it with my hairdryer on the lowest of settings and on a distance. I am wondering if there’s any product I can use to at least make it less noticeable. Please help! Thank you!

Best water based plywood putty or filler prior to new white topcoat finish to this cabinet door? Should be using sandable filler, not a putty, correct?

Just finishing up a project this weekend for my new computer desk, I was originally planning on using linseed oil because I'm pretty sensitive to textures and how stuff feels on my skin and a shelf project I did last year with poly has a very grippy texture to it which I originally thought was the poly but i've been looking at an end table I made in high school woodshop and I swear it was finished with poly and doesn't have that same texture to it (just a little bit maybe) so I'm not sure. The shelf I made was also finished with gel stain which maybe is another possible culprit?

I have poly and linseed on hand and used linseed on my last desk from ikea, but it's built up a few rings over the years and google claims that linseed doesn't hold up as well to hot mugs and my computer is definitely a place to enjoy hot mugs of coffee. Also not the end of the world to me, and definitely preferable to having some aggressive rubbery plastic/rubber feeling to the wood, but the added protection would be nice. Which way should I go?

Alternatively is there a way to strip poly off without damaging the stain in case I try it and nope out?

Wrote a post here, but I just found this subreddit and I figured it'd be worth a shot too. tl;dr, I'm looking for a finish I can use on a small box and a large tabletop, ideally without a lot of volatile chemicals since I have asthma and i'd rather avoid that stuff if possible. I'm also weary of the really combustible finishes like blo, even though I know I probably woudn't have any issues with rags burning I'd just rather not deal with that at the moment. Any advice? So far shellac seems like my best bet, but I'd like to pair it with an oil underneath if possible to make the grain pop out a bit more.

The stain I'm using is oil based, but I have water and oil based conditioners I could use. Not sure what step adding the purple to would be the most effective or make the most sense.

I’ve used a Morell’s water based dye on the outside of an oak bowl I’m making. I often use a friction polish made from shellac, raw linseed oil and denatured alcohol to achieve my finish.

Wondering if the polish may ruin the dye?

I bought a glued slab of red beechwood. I sanded it with p120 sandpaper then p220 sponge. Sprayed it with water to raise the fibers then repeated the sanding. I applied the first coat of marine polyurethane lacquer. Sanded it with a p220 sponge. Applied the second coat and now it looks like im trying to apply it to something hydrophobic. Holes are appearing. Cant figure out how to attatch image on phone

Looking to darken window sashes as we're replacing the trim (like a dark walnut color) and want them to match.

I had a painter give an estimate and he suggested just roughing it up with 220, applying a darker oil-based stain, sanding lightly, and applying another coat. I'm a little skeptical that would provide a nice finish?

https://preview.redd.it/hky4onz522uc1.jpg?width=1654&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d70af06dac1b16c27026818ecbcbae584b7cb115

I have a dark coffee table that has some sort of very durable finish on it. I bought it in early 2000s. I would like to take the finish and stain off of it because it is very dark. I bought it from a furniture store.it has a beautiful grain, but you can barely see it because it is so dark. Is there any way to take this commercial coating off of it?

Long story short I hired the wrong guy and now my stained colonial oak window casing is covered in white paint. Is there a way to get it off somewhat easily or do I just replace it? Thanks guys

Hi I’m renovating my kitchen and while prepping the cabinets for paint I ended up going a bit heavy in a few areas, I noticed that after two coats of shellac bin primer that those areas that were over sanded are slightly bleeding through. I was going to paint using alabaster white but now the plan is to change to a rosemary green with hopes that the darker color will prevent the bleeding from appearing. Does anyone know if this will work and prevent the bleed through in those over sanded areas? Thanks in advance.

I used some isopropyl alcohol disinfectant spray on my phone and wallet and placed them on my side table, and it completely removed the stain in several places (e.g.,: https://imgur.com/a/WeYbvvE).

I've never stained furniture before. I assume I will need to apply a darker stain than the original in order to get the section where the alcohol was and the rest to look consistent. Or do I need to sand the entire thing (including shelves, etc.) and use any stain color of my choice?

I have an old cast iron sink which is coated with enamel. The sink should be used outside, but before that, I want to improve its overall appearance.

The enamel is partially broken, damaged, the sink has rusty areas. Removing all enamel and reapply is not really an option since I don't have the tools (sandblaster or HF acid sink).

My idea would be: mechanically remove the rust and any loose parts as good as possible, sand it off as good as possible. Then apply rust converter and, if necessary, do some welding repair beforehand.

Then however comes the tricky part: my current idea would be to then use some PE-based repair kit which is used for car body restoration work. Sand that one flush, then apply multiple coatings of some hematite-based paint.

Question is: would the PE and/or paint stick on the enamel, or would the whole restoration start to fall off after the first winter? What do you think?

Input highly welcome!

I’m building a couple of shelves (maple plywood faced with maple hardwood) for a laundry room / pantry that will go above a sink and countertop. They will hold food storage, a few lesser used kitchen appliances, etc. I want to stain them and then add a finish that will protect them and that won’t have a lot of friction if I put something relatively heavy like a case of canned food there and need to slide it around a bit (maybe paste wax at the end?). So they need to be functional but still look stylish and attractive.

Suggestions on a simple finish? I will admit I am not good with finish on my projects because I don’t have the patience to have multiple coats dry :) For this I will do what it takes but if you have a suggestion for something that is attractive and simple that would be ideal.

Hello - I've used a heat gun to strip my old oak trim. Now, I'm sanding to get the old stain off using 120 grit orbital sander. Is it normal to have stain not coming off in some spots like this? Any tips for getting it off?

dual question - I've got a generic 3 stage hvlp turbine that came with a spray cup. I was looking at buying a second cup for it, and saw the 3/4" inlet cups are way more expensive than the compressor units

eg $400 for one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Fuji-5070-T70-Spray-Gun/dp/B00D4NPQX6

vs

$70 https://www.amazon.com/TCP-Global-Topcoat-Applications-Warranty/dp/B00MR2XOOI

Is this price difference expected or am I just not searching for the right things on google?

Is there some sort of adapter you can use to make them compatible?