[pmaru77]

I've stripped and sanded and oiled and varnished and sanded and varnished and sanded and now............

I'm trying to get a perfect finish for the top of the table only. Can I sand with 300 or 400 grit and use something on top to get the semigloss back?

This is an everyday eating table (for 2) and I want to feel the smoothness like a babies tush.

I put the info on my products so you would know if I screwed up or not. I bought this table unfinished 27 years ago, and it had a finish put on by an amature, immature 30 year old me. So I decided it needed a face lift.

I realize that I am dealing with laquer instead of polyurethane. I didn't want a waterbased product and the guy at the store directed me to the boat clear coat and the cheaper clearcoat. Anyways, I'm going to finish the project with this stuff because I've spent enuf for now. Anyone try a quick hit with a rub of thinner after sanding?

Seems like a rubdown of mineral spirits shines it up some, even after drying off. Maybe that is good enuf for now. I read up on the spraying of lacquer being the way to go, but no can do.

 

[pmaru77]

Fuggit ......table done.





I decided to wrap it up today, for now. 400 grit with a mineral spirits wipedown, then dry.

I think I will revisit it in a few weeks. You can see sanding marks if you look at it very closely. I;ll have to wait till the weather cools down, as the lacquer sets up way too quickly. No sweat, no more. Come on autumn.

 

[Steve Neul]

I see a few problems. It looks more like pine to me than alder. You say you put a varnish on the table. You can't really use a lacquer finish over varnish. The solvents in lacquer are too strong for varnish and could very easily lift the varnish like paint stripper. If you mean the watco oil/varnish blend that would be alright as long as you don't have too many coats. Problem two is the brushing lacquer is a nitrocellulose lacquer and it tends to yellow as it ages and is not recommended for light colored wood. If you used an oil based varnish it will yellow also but is easier to work by hand. A table top shows every mark and really needs to be sprayed. The only way to get a nice finish on a table top by hand is to put a thick finish on and then hand rub the brush marks out. The water based poly the guy at the store recommended is a non-yellowing finish but it really needs to be sprayed also. If you have a compressor at all a cheap harbor freight sprayer would spray most wood finishes just fine.

 

[pmaru77]

I see a few problems. It looks more like pine to me than alder. You say you put a varnish on the table. You can't really use a lacquer finish over varnish. The solvents in lacquer are too strong for varnish and could very easily lift the varnish like paint stripper. If you mean the watco oil/varnish blend that would be alright as long as you don't have too many coats. Problem two is the brushing lacquer is a nitrocellulose lacquer and it tends to yellow as it ages and is not recommended for light colored wood. If you used an oil based varnish it will yellow also but is easier to work by hand. A table top shows every mark and really needs to be sprayed. The only way to get a nice finish on a table top by hand is to put a thick finish on and then hand rub the brush marks out. The water based poly the guy at the store recommended is a non-yellowing finish but it really needs to be sprayed also. If you have a compressor at all a cheap harbor freight sprayer would spray most wood finishes just fine.

What ever wasw on it before, I removed with stripper and then sanded down to clear wood. Then I rubbed in two coats of the danish oil, then waited 3 days to put the lacquer on, sorry not varnish. I don't know what was on there before, probably water based. The lacquer is fantastic, except that it should be sprayed. And I'm not positive, but pretty close to being positive, that it is in fact alder and not pine. In those early days, I also bought a pine dresser that I still have, and it has dents in it because it is pine. This table had only a few dents, and they were not on the edges, but in the playing field, and not too deep and very well shaped, not like pine would be. Sanding it down to the wood was easy since it is so old and dry. Piece of cake. I'll look into some way to spray someday, but for now it feels smooth and has a fair finish, but now showcase. We use this table every day, sometimes 3 times a day. So I would like to get a thicker coat of lacquer on it.....more than I have right now.

 

[Steve Neul]

What ever wasw on it before, I removed with stripper and then sanded down to clear wood. Then I rubbed in two coats of the danish oil, then waited 3 days to put the lacquer on, sorry not varnish. I don't know what was on there before, probably water based. The lacquer is fantastic, except that it should be sprayed. And I'm not positive, but pretty close to being positive, that it is in fact alder and not pine. In those early days, I also bought a pine dresser that I still have, and it has dents in it because it is pine. This table had only a few dents, and they were not on the edges, but in the playing field, and not too deep and very well shaped, not like pine would be. Sanding it down to the wood was easy since it is so old and dry. Piece of cake. I'll look into some way to spray someday, but for now it feels smooth and has a fair finish, but now showcase. We use this table every day, sometimes 3 times a day. So I would like to get a thicker coat of lacquer on it.....more than I have right now.

There isn't a problem putting lacquer over a Danish oil finish as long as it was dry. You can use a brushing lacquer but for a table top I would put the finish on thicker then if it was sprayed so you can have enough finish to rub out the brush marks and polish it.

It doesn't take that great of conditions to spray lacquer. I mostly spray it outdoors. I just use a cheap harbor freight sprayer and for something the size of that table wouldn't take that big of a compressor. One of the compressors I have is a speedaire 1 hp and it would do it. You can find used ones on craigslist often for about a hundred bucks. They are made by champbell hausfield which make compressors for sears also.

 

[27207]

You can apply another coat or two of the laquer. Then hand rub it out. Basically wet sand it, apply a wax, them buff it to a shine that you want. Kenbo has a nice video tutorial of this on YouTube.

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs

 

[cabinetman]

The wood does not look like Pine. The Danish Oil Finish you used is an oil base mix, and a solvent base lacquer topcoat can cause a failure (it may not happen right away). I would have just left the Danish Oil Finish as the topcoat as it is a stand alone finish. You can get a build using a wipe on method. When there is a sufficient build, you can rub it out. Keep in mind any applications of any topcoat should not be done in thick films, and all applications should be cured before being top coated.

.

 

[pmaru77]

The wood does not look like Pine. The Danish Oil Finish you used is an oil base mix, and a solvent base lacquer topcoat can cause a failure (it may not happen right away). I would have just left the Danish Oil Finish as the topcoat as it is a stand alone finish. You can get a build using a wipe on method. When there is a sufficient build, you can rub it out. Keep in mind any applications of any topcoat should not be done in thick films, and all applications should be cured before being top coated.

I guess time will tell. The instructions on the danish oil say to wait 72 hours before topcoat like poly. to be put on. I waited 3 days plus an alcohol rub down to make sure it was dry. Plus it was 90-100 degrees at that time. It was dry, time will tell if it comes off. I'm doe and off to other projects.]

 

[MT Stringer]

I use Deft on every project. Sometimes gloss but lately I have been using the Satin finish. I thin it about 15% with lacquer thinner and spray it with a HVLP gun I bought at Harbor Freight for $19. I don't have a finishing booth so I pick my days and spray outside in the back yard. Most of the time, I put up my canopy. I also sand after about two or three coats. Last project I sanded with 600 grit paper - just a light scuff that turns out as a white powder.

It never hurts to spray additional coats. I usually wait 45 minutes or more between coats.

Note: Down here in the south we have a lot more warm/hot days than cold.

Hope this helps.
Mike

 

[27207]

I use Deft on every project. Sometimes gloss but lately I have been using the Satin finish. I thin it about 15% with lacquer thinner and spray it with a HVLP gun I bought at Harbor Freight for $19. I don't have a finishing booth so I pick my days and spray outside in the back yard. Most of the time, I put up my canopy. I also sand after about two or three coats. Last project I sanded with 600 grit paper - just a light scuff that turns out as a white powder.

It never hurts to spray additional coats. I usually wait 45 minutes or more between coats.

Note: Down here in the south we have a lot more warm/hot days than cold.

Hope this helps.
Mike

I like that podium. Was the fold up table designed for something specific in mind? Or just in case they needed one?

Edit: disregard the fold up. Looks fixed.

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs

 

[MT Stringer]

I like that podium. Was the fold up table designed for something specific in mind? Or just in case they needed one?

Edit: disregard the fold up. Looks fixed.

It is collapsible. They sit their "Elmo" on the shelf. It projects from the laptop to the whiteboard...or so I am told. The day we delivered it to the school, the students were turning in their homework and laying the sheets on the shelf.

 

[27207]

It love it!

Pmaru. Is that last picture of your table the final product or did you do more after that?

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs

 

[cabinetman]

I guess time will tell. The instructions on the danish oil say to wait 72 hours before topcoat like poly. to be put on.

That sounds right (poly...meaning oil base polyurethane), but does not suggest you can topcoat with lacquer.

.

 

[pmaru77]

It love it!

Pmaru. Is that last picture of your table the final product or did you do more after that?

If jigs and tools were chairs and stools, we'd always have a place to sit.
~Stumpy Nubs

That's it, for now. We use the table every day to eat on........so it's back to the kitchen. I'll monitor the finish to see what happens. I only did the top and sides of the table so it was a quickie. Looks good and wife loves it.

 

[pmaru77]

That sounds right (poly...meaning oil base polyurethane), but does not suggest you can topcoat with lacquer.

"If a topcoat such as polyurethane is desired, allow Watch Danish Oil to dry 72 hours before applying."


"If a clear wood finish such as polyurethane is desired, use Varathane Int Premium Poly or Varathane Professional Poly."

Does not warn or not suggest any other coating. I take such as to mean just that such as. As poly is one of many clear coats. I hindsight, I probably would not go down the same road.

I'm good for now and we are using the table, if in fact the finish fails, it will take me about an hour to get it off and sanded.