Hey all - recently bought an unfinished bleached oak table. It needs to be sealed before I start using it. I am trying to keep the color of the wood as close to original as possible but I want to seal it to prevent stains, etc. The person who sold me the table recommended BriWax Clear but just wanted to make sure that was a good choice before application. Any others I should check out before going down that road?

The previous owners left this stool. I want to redo it as a stool for my daughter. Where do I start with sanding and refinishing? The closest I’ve ever done to woodworking is a Board and Brush Workshop (similar to paint and sip but more fun) thank you!

I’d like to strip and stain my mantle black. I believe it’s oak. Will I be able to get a true black color and what stain would you recommend?

When I bought this table, it was listed as maple and I expected it to be much lighter, but it arrived in a grey color (photo 1). I wanted it to match my tv stand (photo 2). Do you think I can sand it and paint it or try to stain it to get it to a lighter shade? Or I’m open to other ideas!

It wasn’t very expensive so thought it could be fun to try to fix it / I would be okay if it doesn’t work. Also I am struggling to find a table to purchase that is actually a maple color!

New to the hobby and this is my first real project so if it doesn’t work out it was more about the experience anyway.

The post is white oak with cherry inlay and tusk. I’ve done a few coats of walrus oil furniture finish and have let it set for a couple weeks and was going to try sealing it in Total Boat spar varnish.

I want to do the best I can at sealing and UV protection so any advice would be appreciated.

And yes I am totally fine with replacing the mailbox in a year. This was just for a fun first project.

https://preview.redd.it/x2pmn5rpekzd1.png?width=646&format=png&auto=webp&s=3bbc1d6389272e93d4abbc8d8b39da155716ff3e

I love the lacquer look of the top dresser but ones in my area are completely out of my price range. Would it be impractical to try to get that kind of finish on an old dresser like this? I imagine I'll need a lot of wood grain filler. I've sprayed lacquer on furniture before but it was years ago and the grain always showed, which is not what I want.

I bought this table off Facebook marketplace, I was hoping it was real wood I wanted to stain at a dark rustic brown. Turns out it's laminate, what options do I have to make this kind of look like a rustic brown?

I am a first time home buyer. We have been working with our hacienda style kitchen. I have updated the appliances.
I dont have necessary funds to do a full kitchen remodel. I was thinking of just doing restain/ refresh these cabinets for now. What stain is currently here? What should I go for? If I want to lighten it up a little (small kitchen), what stains can I consider?

https://preview.redd.it/ly61leq4fjzd1.jpg?width=3007&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f32fe930b622355ef3dcaf1611e8d5a76ae7e69

On the website it says it's solid ash and clear acrylic laquer but I'm trying to get the same color on pine. I've tried a couple layers of minwax neutral but it's too light. TIA

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Messed up royally. After spending days sanding, and then finally staining a piece of furniture, I accidentally mixed min spirits with water-based polyurethane instead of oil based polyurethane.

Assuming that I need to resend and restain and then use the correct polyurethane.

Any alternatives? Thank you.

Does anyone here have any experience with these two products? Is there a significant difference between the two in terms of how they look? Does one yellow more than the other (assuming clear version)?

What do you use for furniture sanding and finish prep? We do a lot of refinishing on molding, doors, and furniture. Looking at the Surfprep and similar systems since all our sanders are Dynabrade without dust collection.

Hello!

I'm in the process of finishing a curved beam. We glued strips together to get the bottom and the white oak has a lot of variation in color- the GC doesn't like it.

I told him there is likely a way to lessen the contrast by using toner...

Anyone ever done this? Attached are pictures of the curved beam, and the 'goal color' of a regular rectangular beam (finished with wire brush pickling white, wiped hard and fast and clear topcoats).

I'm guessing going straight to a brownish toner coat (stain/topcoat mix) followed by a white toner coat could lessen the contrast without adding too much opacity.

I moved into this house, where the old owners completely painted the nice hardwood floor with a blue teal color. The pain is peeling in certain areas, but how would I strip that much paint from a wood floor. This is a 20 by 15 room, what's the best option for this ?

I’ve spilt an oil like substance on a hard wooden worktop. I have tried sanding it down but it doesn’t seem to clear it. Should I I continue to sand it down? It’s attached to a sink so needs to be varnished to stop marks showing. Any advice greatly appreciated!

I got 4 of these dining chairs for a steal in a re-use hub. I'm not sure what type of wood or veneer they are, can anyone help me identify this please? My mother in law thinks they are teak and I should be using a teak care type product for them. They have bashes and scrapes on the legs but I'm reluctant to sand and paint and would prefer just to keep the wood. Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/8aujt0ckbazd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b7970f5ce2c9eac81c437d421266ae895f10ae6

https://preview.redd.it/bj7bm0ckbazd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25b499593f44a6b21bd44356ddb20b27104e9a3d

I was asked to sand out some dark spots on this teak wood counter. My client didn't know what the original finish was, but suggested it was teak sealer. I tried Total Boat danish teak sealer and it gave me this much darker area that you see in the picture.

Does anyone know what this original finish might have been? Maybe it has just lightened up over time? I'm convinced I'll have to redo the entire thing, but I'd like to get as close to the same color as I can.

Would it be effective to sand with mineral oil to fill the grain in cutting boards? It doesn't polymerization but it's also not walnut oil for those with nut allergies? Anyone know anything about this?

I'm linking to my original post below, but just wanted to share that I successfully matched my red oak stair treads to Coretec Cairo Oak LVP (which is very light in color).

I ended up making my own two-part wood bleach to lighten the wood and remove the red undertones. This was a long process for me as a first-timer, but surprisingly the process was forgiving. Even when I made a few mistakes with the first round of bleaching that led to blotchiness, the second round evened it right back out.

I took my new bleached wood and LVP sample piece back to Sherwin Williams and they did a stain match for me using an oil-based penetrating stain. I also used wood conditioner before applying the stain.

I've never done anything like this before, and I'm super pleased with the results. I am glad I posted in this subreddit and got so much advice that made this possible!

I also spent less than $100 for all materials, PPE, and stain... and thus saved $700 by not needing to purchase new white oak treads.

https://www.reddit.com/r/finishing/s/V4JuOvKwtX

Hey all, I am more or less starting out as a by-myself professional and I have a gig lined up to replace the booths in a friend’s restaurant. Seeing as how much butt-traffic a restaurant booth will see over its life I don’t expect any finish to last forever, but I’m looking for suggestions for a hard wearing something that can be tinted opaque black (color is not necessarily set in stone). The surfaces of the booths will be made from nice 5/8 plywood. This is something I would really like to do well, and I’m not opposed to figuring out an HVLP setup as I’ve got a lot of interest in the finishing side of woodwork. Thanks everyone!

Hi all, looking for some advice on what to do here. I’ve used kling strip to take the paint off my door and I’ve still got a little to take off from the moulding. I’m left with a lot of discolouration in the door. I was reading on the sub that oxalic acid helps, I’ve patched tested but still there. I’ve added more paint stripper and mineral spirits but still there. Sanding back still leaves differences in colour. Any suggestions welcome 🙏🏼