| | | |
| Leave it to the pro. Michael Dresdner, a nationally known wood finishing and woodworking expert, has answered hundreds of common wood finishing questions in Varathane’s Q&A library to help you successfully complete your project. Click on a link to the left for help and solid advice. |
| |
| | | |
| Q: On a new white oak dining table, would you sand the piece to 240 grit or 320 grit?
A: Neither. I typically sand through the grits to 180 aluminum oxide, then sand again using 180 garnet paper, only this time, by hand and going with the grain. At that point the piece will be ready to stain and finish. |  | |
| Q: Will I need to remove wax on a new woodworking project?
A: Only if you somehow got wax on the raw wood. Did you? | | |
| Q: For table tops, do finishers apply dewaxed shellac prior to polyurethane so the polyurethane will adhere better?
A: Not on new wood, no. However, it is wise to use a coat of Zinsser SealCoat as the clear primer coat on a piece that was stripped with paint remover. That’s because stripped pieces often have oil or wax in the wood, and the SealCoat will help seal them in. It’s especially important when refinishing with waterbased topcoats, and much less so if you are using oil based topcoats. | | |
| Q: Does removing finish with paint stripper remove stain as well?
A: That largely depends on the remover, the wood and most of all, the type of stain. Typically, paint remover will take off most of the color in the finish itself, but not the color in the wood. In other words, both pigment and dye stains that were applied directly to the wood and were absorbed by it will remain largely intact even after stripping.
You can try scrubbing with extra stripper and nylon abrasive pads, and you may get a bit more pigment stain out of the wood. You can also sand out some, if not all of it. Dyes, on the other hand, can usually be removed from stripped wood that is completely raw and sanded by wiping the surface with full strength laundry bleach. |
| |
| | |  | | Page | | 3 | |  |
| |
|
|
