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A little complicated

899 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  italiangal 
#1 ·
I have a 65 year old table that I am working on. The table was built by my grandfather. The base of this table was exposed to the elements causing it to peel and chip. The top of this table is complete and detaches from the base. The base consists of two domes with a lot of detail work, a platform and more detail spiral type feet supporting the platform.

My Grandfather painted the domes and the entire base with a metallic gold and then stained over top of that. I am assuming that he was trying to create a real wood fiber look, because all of us thought it was real wood until I discovered that it was not real wood, whichappears to be a fiber glass material.

I want to create the same type of look but with a different color so as to match the tabletop that I just finished. I am stripping the base currently.

Questions:

1. Can I use a metallic spray paint over the fiberglass, if so? will I need a primer prior to spray painting.

2. Can I use gel stain over that spray paint and do I need to do any preparatory work prior to staining after spray painting?

Thank you for your help!!!!
 
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#2 ·
stain over top of paint?

You would have to experiment to see if it gives you the look you are after. Generally stains are oil base and need to soak into the pores of the wood. I don't know how they would adhere to a painted surface. Experiment to see. You may just want to spray a different color and wipe it off to get the look you want.

Primer or sealer is always a good idea no matter the material to be painted.
 
#3 ·
You can use metalic spray paint but over fiberglass you should use a primer. The best thing to do is use a sandable primer and put multiple coats on sanding between coats until everything is good and smooth before using the paint. The primer will likely expose some bad spots you didn't know were there. It will give you an opportunity to putty and sand these spots before committing to paint.

I would not recommend using a gel stain over paint. What you could use is a glazing liquid you could have tinted the color you need. Be sure to use an oil based glazing liquid if it's available. The water based glaze sets up so fast it doesn't give you very much working time. If the glazing liquid is not available depending on the color you could thin some oil based paint a little and use that. Just brush it on and wipe off however much excess you need and allow to dry. The problem with using oil based paint is you would have to put an oil based clear coat over it and oil based finishes tend to yellow as they age and the yellow color will show up on light colors. Dark colors would look fine. If you used a glaze you could topcoat with a water based finish which would wouldn't yellow.
 
#5 ·
After I began stripping this 65 year old table that my grandfather purchased 65 years ago then he chopped off the legs and created the base that is pictured below, I found that the base and the domes are solid wood making this project much easier than what I had anticipated. My grandfather liked doing layers in his finished woodwork. I am assuming that what he was doing is somewhat similar to what people are doing now with making furniture distressed, the exception is that he was doing it long before it was cool in Sicily and later in the United States. Thank you all so much for sharing your ideas on what I should do when I thought that what I was working with was fiberglass. My grandfather told us as kids that he had made that bottom that is why I was in disbelief when I thought I was seeing fiberglass. My Grandfather really did make this bottom.

I was thinking of using a gel stain on this base because it is so forgiving but now that the table top if finished (I used Minwax Pre-stain, Minwax Gunstock 231Penetrating Stain, and MinWax fast drying Polyurethane Clear Gloss), I am not sure that I can create the exact color with a Gel Stain. Do any of you have any suggestions on how I can get an exact match in Stain gel. I have attached what the table top looked like before my refinishing, the base, and the almost finished table top.
 

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