Refinishing a buffet with a question

[Kevin]

I cleaned up my garage and found a nice buffet I can use for a storage cabinet / work bench. It's a solid piece, and I believe the wood is Maple.

Question: I'm wondering what y'all think about the trend of painted and stained cabinets like this: (picture from the internet)

I do enjoy refinishing old furniture...Right now I'm sanding off the old varnish and plan on staining it. I'm just thinking about ideas, light or dark, or two toned, light top and dark body. But it looks like this:
I've thought about the paint, because those slats in the two doors you see are pretty hard to sand and I just hate using the citrus stripper. That stuff is a gooey mess.

Another cabinet I have out in my garage is a dresser from my grandpa. He used it as a tool cabinet in his mechanic shop in Iowa. I've been told the stain on top is motor oil. But I'm fairly certain the wood is Walnut with copper pull handles.

I would love to replicate this oil stain on the new cabinet I bought, but I'm afraid the one thing I can't duplicate is time. I've had this cabinet for probably 35 years so it must be pushing 75 or 80 years old.

Anyway, it's too cold to work on it today, so it might have to wait until next weekend for anymore progress. But if you have an opinion on paint vs. stain (or any mix between the two) for the cabinet, I'd love to hear it.

 

[tom black]

Love the second chest. There's a lot of honest character to it. If it were mine, I'd leave it as is.
Tom

 

[Kevin]

No no, I'm not going to touch the second chest. It is staying as is. Sorry, if I didn't make myself clear.

 

[wwb]

Whatever floats your boat, but to me, painting a beautiful piece of wood is a crime against humanity. Paint is for drywall and plywood.

To sand those hard-to-reach areas, get an oscillating saw with a sanding attachment.

 

[Bob Wright]

While I like that photo of the painted/stained piece you showed, I am always impressed with the grain of "natural" wood. I do like stained finished wood.

For whatever its worth, here is a TV stand I built last year, in the raw wood:



And finished and in use:



The wood was poplar, and the stain was red chestnut from Minwax.


When I first began dating Nita, she had very long beautiful hair. I complimented her once by telling her her hair looked like a fine walnut gun stock!

I'm such a romanticist!

Bob Wright

 

[JFB]

sounds like your "project" is the object as my current quest...to find a furniture work table.

The ideal of soaking in motor oil is intreging. If you do, your opinion a few months latter would be desired.
I would think it would always be "wet" and maybe smell.

I would just use a soaking of drying oil, like linseed.

something I did to an outside work table top that had started to "mold" was to soak in old antifreeze and then a couple coats of floor varnish. the surface turned black.

the unfinished wood really soaked up the antifreeze and it did dry after about a week before I applied the varnish for a slick, wipeable surface

 

[Kevin]

Hey! thanks for the replies. Bob, that is a great TV stand. I like Minwax stains.

JFB, I don't think I'm going to try the motor oil stain. I can't see how I would get it to look "natural," like an accident, and not something I did on purpose.

wwb: Thanks for the tip on the sander. I'm going to Lowes today, I'll look at them. This dresser was only $99, so I have some leftover money to buy a power tool.

Here is the last dresser I refinished. It's solid Mahogany. Believe it or not, someone was tossing it out with the bulk trash. I stained it dark and painted the drawers on the inside. Not sure how, but it ended up doing a great job of it.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Since you are going to all the trouble to strip the finish, I'd say it's mandatory to go with a nice natural finish. Such wood is pretty.

If you were going to paint the poor thing you could have skipped all that serious prep work and just scuffed the surface and slathered on some paint and would have lost all its natural beauty.

JMHO
:mrgreen:

 

[Bob Wright]

WOW! I'm a pushover for dark wood and brass hardware!




Does it show?

Bob Wright

 

[JackpineWillie]

What Hunter said!

 

[Bull Barrel]

Use it as a work bench?

Noooooooooooo!

 

[Dave P.]

It's just..... wrong..... to paint fine grained hardwoods, might as well
cut it up for firewood!
Dave

 

[GunnyGene]

Kevin, you could replicate the "aged, oil stained" top with wood dye. Mix and match the colors to get what you want. Dye's won't muddy or hide the grain like stain does, and they are much easier to apply.

http://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/transtint-liquid-dyes/

 

[Kevin]

GunnyGene:
Hmmm...thanks for giving me ideas. I will read about the dye. I’ve never tried that before, just always gone with a stain like Minwax.

Are these Aniline dyes? I’ll look into them.

Usually I sand the wood to 150 grit before staining. I used to go up to 220, but found it closed off the pores of the wood and became splotchy.

Then varnish over the top?

They say to mix with alcohol? What type? As in rubbing alcohol?

 

[toysoldier]

Absolutely DO NOT use petroleum-based oil on wood. It will eventually rot the wood. Just examine any old beater shotgun. The wood at the receiver is eaten away from years of oil saturation. The citrus-based strippers may be messy, but they're a whole lot healthier than BIX, and save a lot of work. AS for the eventual finish, I remember this adage: A good coat of paint hides a multitude of sins. If you've got good wood, why hide it?

 

[WAYNO]

My preference would be to keep it original, but preserved with a modern, durable and clear finish.

However, if I walked into a house or establishment and saw the same furniture with a tasteful paint job as the example above, it would still be pleasing.

 

[GunnyGene]

GunnyGene:
Hmmm...thanks for giving me ideas. I will read about the dye. I’ve never tried that before, just always gone with a stain like Minwax.

Are these Aniline dyes? I’ll look into them.

Usually I sand the wood to 150 grit before staining. I used to go up to 220, but found it closed off the pores of the wood and became splotchy.

Then varnish over the top?

They say to mix with alcohol? What type? As in rubbing alcohol?

I've used TransTint dyes quite a lot over the past 15 years or so, with excellent results. As always with stain or dye, test it (solution after mixing/thinning) on some similar scrap wood sanded to the same grit as the furniture or other piece before applying.

In order of asked:

Not Aniline.

Finishes: You can use nearly any common finish once the dye has dried. See the link below.

Don't use rubbing alcohol. Use De-natured Alcohol available at any hardware store such as Lowes or Homedepot. They can be diluted with water, but that will raise the grain - I don't recommend it.

See this for complete detailed information: http://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TransTintTDS-7-2013.pdf

PS: 2oz will cover a large area, depending on how much you thin it. It's very concentrated right out of bottle. For your project, I doubt you would need to mix more than 1/2 oz of the concentrate in a quart of DNA or water.

 

[Kevin]

Thank you very much. I’m going to try this dye. I’ll post some detailed pictures along the way.

 

[GunnyGene]

Thank you very much. I’m going to try this dye. I’ll post some detailed pictures along the way.

You're welcome. Always happy to help out a fellow woodworker. Looking forward to the progress pics.

 

[Dave P.]

Kevin,
That's actually a pretty well built piece of furniture, somewhere between 50 and 75 years old.
You might not want to use it as a workbench.
Dave

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Such projects are always quite personal to the fellow doing the work. So... as nothing more than an observer, I'd agree on Grandpa's chest and keep it as is, but from what I see in the picture, the other chest looks like it deserves a more refined second life than that of a workbench!

If it does turn into a workbench as planned, I find lighter colored finishes easier to find "dropped stuff" on. I suppose the paint/natural combo is ok if tastefully done, though I prefer natural wood finishes if there's a decent piece of wood involved. I once stayed a couple of days in a house which, according to a fellow I knew who'd help build it, had almost $500,000 worth of oak (total materials and labor) in it. For reference, the owner was just short of being a kazillionaire, the house--one of several "second" homes he owned--was about 4800 sq ft, and wood was everywhere throughout it. Every square inch of wood was painted in a super high gloss "white as rice" white. The paint was definitely master craftsman quality work, done in a way the open grain of the wood still showed nicely, yet I couldn't help but wonder how one could commit such a "crime."

Rick C

 

[Kevin]

Now you guys are making me feel bad!

Let me refinish it and then I’ll see if it becomes a work bench or not. The problem is, we don’t have any room in the house for any more furniture. I’ll try and take some pictures of some of the other furniture we have. Some of it’s pretty nice. I’ve redone most of it over the years.

 

[nlocke]

I found one similar to picture 2 in a house I bought. It had been painted an ugly brown. We stripped off all of the paint to reveal the natural pine beneath.
It had 10 drawers with nice wood fronts, so we varnished the wood drawers and top. We then painted the frame and sides a medium light maroon and it really set off the natural wood colors.

 

[arfmel]

That’s a better made piece of furniture than most of the (chinese made) junk you see for sale new these days. Fix it up and sell it to someone who needs a nice piece of furniture. I bet you can get several hundred bucks for it. Use the proceeds to buy a workbench.

 

[GLASSMAN]

Ya'all need Glass Tops for all that nice furniture :mrgreen:

 

[mm6mm6]

Kevin, I tried my very unartistic hand at this a couple months ago for the first time. We have a Sears laminated wood dresser and mirrored set from 23 years ago. Pressed wood and laminated over the top. It was the style more than two decades ago but not today. Works great so I set about giving it a faux paint job in the grey/turquoise paint scheme my wife wanted. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

I used cheap brushes from the Dollar Store (three for $1). I used a quart of white primer and brushed it on after removing the drawer pull hardware. I didn't even take the clothes out of the drawers. I also primer painted the drawer pulls.

After it dried, I brushed on the paint, turquoise on the tops first. Then I turquoise painted the drawer pulls. Then I painted the grey.

I went super cheap and bought two cheap spray paint cans in white and brown. I sprayed paint into plastic containers and then dipped a smaller brush in that paint (cheaper than buying cans of paint since I only needed a small amount). Then I lightly brushed the edges with the brown. It makes it look like brown wood is coming through the paint. This is the faux part. I also used the white paint as well. Some areas I was happy with and some I may have over done it a bit. I also used the brown and white to give a faux finish to the drawer pull hardware too.

When it was all dry, I put the drawer pulls back on and then I brushed on a clear satin coat that means now I can put a can of soda on the tops and not worry too much about a few condensation drips.

My wife is very happy and the color looks good. Of course, now I have to paint the room grey to match....

Before:



After (later I bought a $1 picture frame and faux painted it to match for the collage above the dresser):



Before:



After:



-Steve

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Bob you certainly have an eye for dark wood and brass. I like it.

 

[Kevin]

Steve:
Those dressers look great! I have tried that style of painting myself, with similar colors even. I did it a little differently. I used several different colors of paint, with a different brush for each color, and a mostly dry brush, just quickly and lightly go over the table.

I did use primer, and then a water based, high-gloss varnish.

Please ignore the mess. It's my wife's hobby room table. She likes to do art stuff at night.

It's from the Salavation Army, but the table is a mix of hardwood and MDF with a veneer top. It was a really ugly brown, so I didn't feel bad about painting it. It is a solid and extreamly heavy table, about 6 feet long by 2 feet deep.

 

[Kevin]

Here are three more pieces of furniture we have. I promise, all were from thrift stores and I didn't do anything to them finish wise.

This is a Maple buffet from Ethan Allen. It's very heavy and has wheels on the bottom which makes it pretty easy to move. That's part of my daughter's rock collection on top of it.

This is one of those 9 drawer tall boy cabinets. It's also from Ethan Allen and I'm 6 feet tall, so to the top of the finials, it must be 7 1/2 feet. The three drawers on top are basically empty, I can reach them, but can't see inside. But, it comes in two parts, the bottom has three screws to keep the top from sliding off. Sorry for the dark picture, it's in a back bedroom that doesn't get much light.

The finish on it is in really, near perfect condition. I've had it for about 3 years. I'm not sure what type of wood it is, but it's not MDF or plywood, It does have the dust covers between the levels of drawers. I think the finish is a traditional color for this type of chest. It's that reddish brown.

Here is another 8 drawer chest. It's Mahogany. And I promise, it's a $100 thrift store find from New Jersey.

 

[mm6mm6]

Kevin, your stuff looks great! I forgot to mention that after all the paint dried on my projects, I would use a Scotchbrite pad to scuff it and tone down the reflectiveness of the new paint. It helped blend it as well. I don't have a picture but I bought a two drawer end table at Goodwill for $12.99 and reversed the colors to grey on top over turquoise. It's now our tv stand in the bedroom.

I'm looking forward to buying a cabin soon and then buying used furniture to faux. Different colors for each bedroom.