restoring an old dining table- long winded

jim capozzi

Member
Messages
280
Location
oswego county , upstate n.y.
restoring an old dining table- finally done .

hi all,

well where to begin ...... i have this old table from a friend of ours on this forum .....hi joan :wave: she has been patiently waiting for me to refurbish it . i have had it for a couple of years now :doh: gee time flies when your having fun :eek: i have reglued alot of it and repaired a few small parts, so now its time to get down to the real buissiness of actually refinishing it. i want to preserve the charachter of the table , it is well over 100 years old . unfortunately it sat in a basement or garage environment for 10 to 15 years and time has taken its toll. i know sanding will make alot of that time dissapear. i just dont want the detail going with it . so i have alot of questions........ the table appears to be made out of solid quartersawn white oak ( i am going by the medulary rays i see) joan wants the new finish to be no darker than the remnents of the present remaining finish. i dont know if the table top will get any lighter in color i have had two kinds of stripper on it already .... so i think thats it , but i may try it again just to be sure.



ok so the whole plan at the begining of this venture was to get her into woodworking ........mission accomplished :rofl::rofl: :rofl: she is hooked on turning BIG TIME :eek: :thumb: :D

i told her at the begining i was nervous about doing this project and i still am a little . the extra 3 years experience in WW hasn't hurt any. i think with a little help from my friends ,(thats you guys and girls) i can do this . i dont have spray equipment so this job will be brush and sandpaper and steel wool or synthetic pads (you know the ones , look like scrubber pads for pots and pans)

all this rambling and i haven't asked the main question :doh:
how do i make a 100 yr old table look like new AND so people still know its 100 years old :dunno: thanks for the help in advance pictures to follow along the way
 

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Hey Griz,

From what I can see of the pics, looks like a cool table. I would think the stripper with synthetic pads will remove the old finish. If you use sand paper, be careful with which grit you start with so you don't remove the patina. I'm sure there is someone here that will provide the proper techniques in the restoration.
 
The stripper that I use for stain and shellac is Forbys. It is alittle exspensive but works great. For paint I use Stryp Ease for the BORG. A brass or stainless steel brush works great for getting into the carvings and turnings. Just be carefull of how how you scrub with the stainless steel brush. After you are done useing stripper on it, wash it down with mineral spirts to neutralize the stripper. Then wash it with TSP The will remove any mildew that may be on the wood.

If you want to go lighter then wash it with some bleach. This will help remove the stain from the grain. I try not to use anything below 150 grit when refinishing. Then work your way up. The corser the grit the more of the patina that will be removed.
 
pro photo guy to the 'rescue'

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long winded, ha! folks for Him that was long winded ;)
 
Wow, that is a exellent table. It will clean up real nice. Some Forbys stripper on the top will clean that right up. The gray on the legs will go away when it is washed down. Can't wait to see it finished.
 
Looks very much like one we have in the breakfast area. After watching the twins on Antiques Roadshow chastise people for refinishing their antiques, I decided to just leave ours alone and let it look old. I did protect with a beeswax finish/polish and repaired the mechanism. But other than that, it is old and looks it.
 
In my humble opinion, I'd sand it relatively smooth, don't try to remove any of the color that's there, and finish with a clear satin finish.

I had a similar dilemma presented to me a number of years ago--I was given an old locking bookcase that had been in my aunt's family since the 1890s. The rub was that it had been painted with putrid green latex flat wall paint!!! I went through several gallons of Formby's, a couple of brass brushes, a full box of toothpicks, and uncounted pairs of rubber gloves until I had all of the green off it, then turned around and very innocently asked hubby, "now what do we stain it with?" He took one look diagnosed it as solid cherry, and said "we Deft it--that's all." It still looks its age, since it has some of the "gingerbread" carvings missing, but that lacquer finish has lasted well over 20 years, and the wood hasn't darkened very much.

Keep the character of the table, don't cover it up. Just something clear.

Nancy
 
hi all

thanks for rescuing the pictures ned:thumb: now they look the way they're supposed to :D

ok as for the descision making part of this .........its all joan's descision as to what she wants the table to look like. old or new i can do it ........i think :huh: :rofl: :rofl: :D

sorry folks for the gray apperance on top of the legs. they really are the same color as the pedestal, dark brown. i just neglected to blow the dust off of them before the pictures :doh: :eek:

stay tuned progress pics as time goes on and i peel away some more of the years :)
 
Hi Jim,

This may be information arriving too late but, your table has a white oak top with lots of rays and judging from the general appearance is likely a factory made piece from about 1940~. The top is veneered and the remainder of the table is glue-up (legs and pedestal) and may or may not be of oak. Be very cautious with the top as that it would be easy to sand through the veneer. Judging from the style and appearance you table would probably have been finished to a medium brown (Hipplewhite style) and was originally finished with either shellac or varnish. Most likely, all but the top is made from secondary woods and is probably glued with hide glue; delamination of the glue up is going to be a problem.

Best of luck with your restoration.
 
Chris, you apparently didn't read the OP very well - Jim plainly stated that the table is over 100 years old. From my view, the tabletop looks like solid wood. In the first large picture in Ned's post, there is a nick on the edge of the table that does NOT reveal veneer onto a substrate.

Nancy
 
wow nancy nice eye :thumb:

i have been over the table enough to know it definetly not veneered, the whole thing is solid white oak...no secondary wood at all. i have already reglued almost all of the table top boards back together , and also the leg sections and feet. now i have to go out and look because i didnt notice the nick that you saw from what 2800 miles away :eek: :D
 
That is what tells that is a old peice that has been refurbished.:) I always leave as much of the dings and small chips in the peice to keep it looking like a new peice.
 
hi all ,

i really had to dig to find this original post , its been waaaayyyyy too long since i started this this project . this table spent ALOT of time sitting in my shop :eek:

it is now finally done and i think the results were worth the wait IMHO .... the separated leg in the pictures has been repaired and it will come out of the clamps today and be ready for delivery this weekend :)

this is going to joan's daughter karen , who just moved into her new home. i think she will find a nice place to put it ;)

since i have soo much trouble posting pics on here i will just provide a link to my FB page where you can see a few of my past projects :rolleyes:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=616033417#!/album.php?aid=173601&id=616033417
 
Nice old oak table. I've done a number of the same table in the past. I'd use acetone or Denature alcohol with a purple pad to strip it and then clean. The veneers on those if veneered are usually very thin. The lightly sand with 320. Build the finish 3-4 coats and sand lightly again. It will look great. :thumb:
 
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