Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - School Desks

I have inherited four "rock maple" school desks that have a lot of sentinmental value to me. These desks were dipped because they had red antiquing done on them. The company that dipped them said the red antiquing would barely come off and they used a belt sander with an 80 grit to get the thickest off. They told me that I probably would not get any more of the red off. What kind of sanding should I do? Then staining, what "type" of stain should I use - I'm concerned because of the red and the wood (maple) and then what type of finish. I recently stained and finished a maple dresser and was not pleased with the results at all, thus my concern. I would appreciate any guidance any help you can offer.

Debbie Mae:

Maple can be a bit of aproblem if you aren't aware of its characteristics before you start.

It is a very hard wood, and close grained. It doesn't accept much stain willingly. To get around this, use a gel type stain of the color you want. This will allow you to get a deeper and more uniform color than with an oil base liquid stain.

As far as the existing red, you can try to 'tone' it down in this manner. Buy a small can (1/2 pint) if you can find it) of Minwax Jacobean. This looks like a very dark brown, but it has a slight greenish cast to it - like the artist color Raw Umber. Add an equal amount of paint thinner to it, nad wipe down the reddish areas. The gren should knock down the red tones toward a brown. If you happen to be artistically inclined and have raw umber itself, you can use this.

As far as finish goes, it depends on your taste and the amount of abuse you expect these desks to take. Probably the easiest would be aerosol lacquer. Better (and more durable) would be a polyurethane. Either one offers a choice of sheens (gloss) for your preference.

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George T.