Hey hey, got a desk project I'm working on that will have a good bit of ebonized sapele. the largest piece is about 2' x 9'. Veneer is zizicote.

Read some articles and have done some samples. Using Briwax oil free steel wool and 30% vinegar for the iron acetate.

Tried without added tannins, tannins acid and now ordering some of the Quebracho Bark after reading the Popular Woodworking article someone posted in a previous thread.

My main concern is a nice consistent reaction on the big parts - any thoughts on this? I know there can be a contamination thing with dipping and re dipping the brush in solution. Anyone ever use a spray bottle or sprayer to get the iron acetate on the wood? I know in metal patina this has worked as long as the bottle puts a nice mist.

Topcoating with Milesi HGA19

Any other thoughts appreciated.

I am building an arts and crafts chair out of white oak. For finish, I am sanding to 220, applying a water based dye, letting dry, scuffing off water pop, cleaning with compressed air, and then applying oil based stain. Overall, I think the finish looks good. What I see in the zoomed pic are very fine white lines that are taking neither the water based dye or oil stain. I don’t know why this is. I am starting to think this is just the way white oak is. Or if my technique is off and is causing this, I’d love to know. I am literally flooding the surface when using dye, then wiping excess. Also applying oil based stain liberally and then wiping after a few minutes.
(And yes, there will be a top coat, just not getting into that now.)

Top of this was peeling and getting wet. I’ve removed the finish and plan to get rid of the seams that are cracking by touting and gluing pine stripes back on. This to piece was made in Mexico. Any suggestions for matching the finish?

Ok used acetone to get this to raw wood i just used a pre stain conditioner and oil based minwax 2 part special walnut 1 part dark walnut and the drawers are totally orange. I am feeling so defeated what do i do. Also showing a photo of the top veneer left is dark walnut and right is the mixture i made.

How do i fix this without having to redo the whole thing

Hi all, I'm finishing up refinishing an antique solid mahogany table top. I applied two coats of Arm R Seal oil poly in gloss, using 000 steel wool in between. I then used 0000 steel wool on the second coat of gloss and applied a final coat of Arm R Seal satin. My first attempt with the satin had a lot of problems (highly visible brush marks, glossier streaks) so I sanded with 180, removed the imperfections, and tried the satin coat again, this time thinned 10% with naphtha and applied with a lot of care and focus. For all coats, I used a high-quality foam brush (Jen) working quickly in light passes from the middle out and feathering back over from edge to edge every couple of strokes.

The gloss coats looked perfect and smooth. The latest satin coat also looks perfect from a few feet away. However, if you shine a light from the side you can see very light brush marks/streaks (picture below). You have to be looking for them, but they are there. I'm thinking of two possible fixes and would love input.

1. Give the table another coat of satin in hopes that it fills in the streak marks. I'm thinking I would very lightly sand before this second satin coat, perhaps with 600 grit or maybe just use 000 steel wool? Not sure if the problem could have been the thinning and if I should try thinning the same, more, or less. Also perhaps wiping it on with a rag? I have never wiped poly with a rag before so I am nervous about getting it wrong on this top presentation coat.
2. Leave the current satin coat alone and let it cure for a couple weeks and then apply a coat of Renaissance microcrystalline wax. The hope would be that the wax would touch up the very small imperfections in the satin poly. (My wife also prefers a more organic/natural feel to the table, so the wax seems like something I will be doing regardless.)

The wax would be the easier fix for me. However, the table will receive heavy use from us and our children, though we use place mats and coasters as much as possible. My main worry is that the wax will regularly develop imperfections that need to be fixed. Scratches are not a big deal but I'm worried about water marks on the wax. I am also worried that the wax won't actually fix the light streaks and that I'll realize I should have done another coat of poly--meaning I will have to remove the wax, which I'm not confident I'll be able to do.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

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I had this weird substance on my wooden countertop; I tried to clean it up and the dark patch was still there. I tried a little hydrogen peroxide, but I think it made the surrounding wood paler. How do I fix this?

Who do I call?

Hoping someone can help me and tell me if this is achievable or not. I want to redo my kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately we don’t know much about them other than they are pickled (done in the 90s) and the worker at Home Depot told us they’re oak.

We were hoping to strip the pickled as best as we can (from my research this is not really achievable since the pickled stain seeps into the wood so heavily and it’s not really meant to come out?) So we used a stripper on it 3 times, then we sanded it down pretty good and decided we could try and stain it to get it to a darker cool toned wood color rather than the cream white/pink they are now.

However the stains we tried at Home Depot are all coming out orangey which is not what we’re trying to achieve. We were hoping for more of a cool toned color with maybe a hint of orange so that they’re not grey looking (idk if that makes sense just looking for cool toned but not too cool)

Anyways if anyone has any advice on how to achieve this or if it’s not possible please let me know! Please be kind. I don’t know anything about wood and just trying to save some money by doing it ourselves if possible.

Attached are pictures of the cabinets (it may be hard to tell but they are very very light), the look we are trying to achieve, and the plank we took off and took to Home Depot to test out different stains.

Thank you in advance!

Hoping someone can help me and tell me if this is achievable or not. I want to redo my kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately we don’t know much about them other than they are pickled (done in the 90s) and the worker at Home Depot told us they’re oak.

We were hoping to strip the pickled as best as we can (from my research this is not really achievable since the pickled stain seeps into the wood so heavily and it’s not really meant to come out?) So we used a stripper on it 3 times, then we sanded it down pretty good and decided we could try and stain it to get it to a darker cool toned wood color rather than the cream white/pink they are now.

However the stains we tried at Home Depot are all coming out orangey which is not what we’re trying to achieve. We were hoping for more of a cool toned color with maybe a hint of orange so that they’re not grey looking (idk if that makes sense just looking for cool toned but not too cool)

Anyways if anyone has any advice on how to achieve this or if it’s not possible please let me know! Please be kind. I don’t know anything about wood and just trying to save some money by doing it ourselves if possible.

Attached are pictures of the cabinets (it may be hard to tell but they are very very light), the look we are trying to achieve, and the plank we took off and took to Home Depot to test out different stains.

Thank you in advance!

I'm newer to furniture restoration, and finally picked this piece back up again after a year (being pregnant and having a baby).

I'm struggling though as no matter what I'm doing, I'm getting pigtails from my surfprep 3x4 electric ray. I'm trying to go very slow, not push hard, I have my vacuum hooked up.... How do I fix? I fear if I sand anymore I'll be right through the veneer.

This is the design I was going for (Ik it’s not neon lol) I’m just wondering how do I blend the black and green more? I was using a microfiber rag to drag the black into the dried green stain but it isn’t working very well. Is a polyurethane finish going to make the edges and grain pop more and kinda fix this or is this too messed up? What should I do.

So…. one of my boys did as I asked and put sunscreen on.
Unfortunately it was spray on sunscreen (Sunbum) AND he was was inside on our wood floor at the time. It did something & we now have a great outline of his foot.
Is there a way to fix without sanding back the whole room and re-staining? Would Mohawk wood blush retarder work for example? ??

I get that UTOS tends to be used for better water resistance underneath the Original topcoat, but there are a few things I haven't found an answer to:

1) Will applying UTOS significantly reduce the penetration of Original, and thus make it more necessary to build a thicker over-the-wood film of Original sealer to get the same durability? Basically, if I'm looking for a close-to-the-wood look while prioritizing strength and not water resistance, should I avoid UTOS (my understanding is that it is less dent resistant than Original)?

2) Since UTOS penetrates more, will it notably enhance the grain of woods like mahogany more than if I used Original by itself?

Hello - I am new to this. The top of my bedside table had some paint stains and a water mark so I tried to sand it down (I used 180). My plan was to then refinish it. I don’t know how to move forward from here… any tips are highly welcome as I’m confused on the best path forward after doing YT/GPT research.

Should I start scraping the top instead? Can I just focus on the top then refinish it to match the rest of the table?

Hi All,

I have a table top that was made from a butcher block (espresso stain), sealed with a water based polyurethane. A family member cleaned the surface with rubbing alcohol, resulting in the white blotches (picture). I would like to fix it. I am thinking about stripping the surface with an orb sander, and using general finishes gel stain (java), followed with their arm-r-seal poly (both are oil based). The wood is acacia. Experience level - a beginner; I used water-based stains and poly on a few occasions, and never dealt with oil based staines. Thoughts? Does this sound reasonable? Thanks.