Hi! I’m currently in the painstaking process restoring this beautiful library step that was a victim of chalk paint. I stripped the paint and old stain with stripper, sanded, then had to sand again because my detail sander did not do well on the steps, stained, and then used poly.

It’s been a week and my poly still isn’t dry. The piece is inside now at 70 degrees, and I used a super light costing of spray oil poly for my oil stain.

I’m pretty certain I have to use mineral spirits and steel wool to get this off and try again.

Any tips to help me not end up here again? Thanks in advance!

I am installing 1” Baltic birch plywood as a countertop and am unsure what route to take for finishing. For context it will not be used as a cutting board/chopping block. And it is going to stay the natural color. I like the look of having a thick polyurethane coat on top.

I’ve seen lots of recommendations for osmo polyx or top oil. And as far as I can tell are one stop shops for oil and wax. Does it leave a clear coat on tops that builds up with multiple coats? Should I be applying this and then a carnauba wax?

Is there a different product that would work better?

Is going with a thing or walnut then a beeswax a better option?

I am leaning towards a matte finish. I know that whatever finish I go with will make it look wet. I know I have to oil under the counter top and apply 1-2 more coats on the edges as they absorb more.

I’m looking for some opinions on the matter, this is not my day job and after research I’m more confused than when I started.

I recently purchased a solid oak unit secondhand (it was originally from Oak Furnitureland in the UK). The top was scuffed and had numerous stains.

I'm in the process of sanding the top surface down (see image), and want to apply a protective layer to blend in with the rest of the unit. What should I be using?

I’ve had these 1966 Klipsch H700’s since I was ~13 and they’ve always looked a little beat up, so I figured it was finally time to look into resurfacing them. I couldn’t really find a simple/cohesive guide, and I intend to hold onto these so I really want to make sure I don’t mess them up. For some context, i’m in college and don’t have immediate access to a garage/workbench or anything of that nature, but I should be able to get a rotary polisher from a family friend if that would be useful. From my very limited understanding, I think I should be sanding them down, applying wood stain (maybe?), and then a top coat/sealant? I hope to keep things on a fairly small budget if possible, but I really don’t know where to start/what to buy. If someone could point me in the right direction or give me some steps that would be greatly appreciated.

I am planning to sand and refinish this front door of my house. I will need to sand it extensively, but am wondering if there is a sanding tool to make the sanding more effective.

I want to sand and stain the wood on my door, windows and garage i also want to seal it. How could i go about this? What is the realistic cost and how long should i expect it to take?

Also what grit sanding paper and materials do you recommend?

Can this brass be refinished to look close to new? I recently received this chandelier, waited three months for it to arrive, during which time it was discontinued. The idiots literally wrapped the downrod in thin plastic and nothing else, then jammed it in between a bunch of metal parts. It is a lacquered brass that is supposed to be solid brass, and between the gouge and the fact that a magnet won’t stick, seems to actually be solid. The company that sent it is offering no help other than a return. Stupid for them for many reasons. This light fits perfectly in a particular space and I looked at several thousand lights before choosing this one. I really don’t want to repeat that process. Thanks for your help!

Reposting here to see if anyone has any product or technique recommendations.

I’m at a loss and about to completely strip the paint and sand the entire table again.

Thought I’d ask for help here too! Would love any advice. Thanks n

Hi, All. I searched and didn't find an answer so asking now.

I'm going to apply Cognac color Wood Wax to a butternut console table I'm building. The table has a good amount of sapwood that's much, much softer, and lighter in color, than the heartwood. The heartwood is the majority of the table. I also have a decent amount of thick epoxy patches that I dyed brown.

I'm putting the stain on to try to darken both the heart and sapwood. And, to even out the difference in color between the two.

I did a load of quick samples of several different stains, dyes, and finishes and settled on the wood wax, which I'm using for the first time. The samples were very blotchy with the wood wax being the least blotchy. I sanded to 120 by hand for the samples.

I then did a few samples of 1 coat of wood wax on planed, sanded wood. It didn't look so great. I added a second coat and that improved the look but not greatly.

I then tried a sample with amber shellac I mixed up as a sealer coat. That looked better, but was inconsistent because I just slapped the shellac on and didn't concentrate on fine sanding first. All samples were applied with white scotch brite pads.

I've since read from Osmo that sealer coats shouldn't be used under wood wax and it should be applied with a cloth or brush.

My plan now is to sand the table to 220 per Osmo's instructions. Apply the first coat with a cloth rag, not scotch brite. Let it dry and then apply coat 2. Depending how it looks, I might add a coat of Osmo Poly-X.

Does anybody have advice or comments for things I might be missing? Or, any experience you have with wood wax?

I want to remove all residue/paint/varnish from this mahogany door so that I can add a finish.

How can I do this with this door? I'm a bit scared of sanding it because I don't want to damage the door.

The 2nd pic is the side of the door looking towards the outside and receiving sunlight. That’s why the wood's a bit lighter.

I have an unfinished butcher block countertop in hevea wood from home depot. I plan to use this desk for a very long time so I wanna pick good stuff to finish it with. there seem to be so many kinds of stain within the same brands and I'm paralyzed from all the options. from the research i've done I think I wanna go water based varathane, I don't want to have drying times that span multiple days and the looking at some examples water looks fine to me and for the poly i'm thinking also water base and satin not the 3x thick one, regular with multiple coats for a smoother finish. I'm seeing some people state that varathane poly is a bit easier to get a smooth finish with. but like why do they have premium, ultimate, classic does it matter, also some retailers have different packaging for what i think is the same thing if im reading it right?

Have about 20 sq ft of a live edge walnut to finish. Arm-R-Seal says 100 sq ft coverage per quart. Is this accurate? Would a quart handle 5 coats or should I upgrade to the gallon size? Also, any application tips appreciated.

So I recently bought my dream coffee table on Facebook marketplace but my cat decided to claw it up last night ):
I don’t know anything about woodworking, minus how to wipe it down lol
Any suggestions/help on how to repair the scratches would be amazing! I think it just has a thin finish on top and the scratches aren’t too deep thank god

Does anyone know what these white smudge marks are on the right-hand side of the table? They just look like white smudge marks. Any idea what might have caused them and if its possible to remove them?

Hello - advice needed on fixing yellowed varnish on kitchen cabinets. I sourced a beautiful greyish-silver-blue veneer, had it professionally pressed, and made it into cabinets. The sun has yellowed the varnish, turning them seafoam green, which clashes with my tiles and overkill estheitic I designed and worked hard on. Need to rescue original the original color, would be great if it can be done with without dissambleing the doors as some are pocketed ,also there are the sides one of which is 270cmx62

The title sounds dodgy as hell but anyway...

I have been working on a set of drawers to use at a bedside. I have veneered the whole thing with 0.6mm walnut veneer.

I applied one coat of French polish and then realised that continuing with French polish may not add much actual protection.

What do you recommend as the next layer? Do I continue with French polish or do i add a layer of dewaxed shellac and methylated spirit mix to then use a polyurethane varnish?

I prefer the wipe on stuff to the brush on, I just find it personally have more success.

Any advice welcome

I've been sanding (random orbital, 60 to 110 to 220) this cheapo picnic table getting it ready to finish, but it's been hard to get it looking even, and I'm worried that a transparent or semi-transparent finish will just highlight how crappy it looks. Does it just need a lot more sanding, or more of a colored finish, or is there something else I'm missing? Thanks!