Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - refinish perfectly good table????

It's now our time to prepare for retirement. We bought a rustic home on a mountain. We are going from a breakfast room and a formal dining room to a large kitchen open to a large eating area which can be seen from the living room. I have to choose a table for down there.

I have a beautiful solid cherry formal dining room table with a high gloss finish. No nick, no scratches. It's been lovingly cared for. It has 3 leaves and drop leaves and goes from seating 2 to 12. I love the dining table but it's too formal for an everyday table. I don't want to cover it up under table pads and tablecloths. I like the look of the wood. The kitchen set isn't formal enough for our only table. Also, I do have room in my new eating area for the dining table and all it's leaves so I hate to lose it.

I know I cannot replace the dining table with one of equal size/quality for what I could sell it for.

Our new home has lots of wood already..oak (cabinets) , hickory (floors), pine (stained woodwork). I think cherry will fit in great but not the formal finish. Think rocks and wood. Not a formal environment. The table is more brown than red. I remember way back when I got it (over 20 yrs ago) I selected a more mahogany look than a red look.

Would I be crazy to refinish this table down to a natural cherry finish? I was thinking of ebony staining the legs and aprons and natural on the top...whatever color it strips down to is fine with me.

Any input is appreciated. Advice is welcome also. Thanks all.

Not crazy IMHO. Furniture should be both beautiful *and* functional. It has to suit you, not you it.

This glossy formal style clings from an age before plastic, when plain wood was *common* and, unknowingly, we strived to make wood look like... plastic. Well now the tables have turned ( :rolleyes: ) and sleek synthetic stuff is *cheap*.

So you want an honest wood table.

you did not say if you planned to do the work yourself?

you can do just about anything to your table.
you are right about not selling it, still, if you have someone
do the refinishing it will not be cheap.

i remember when i first started out doing refinishing, that sometimes
the price of the job was in direct relationship to the vehicle that
the person drove up in, not that i was the one pricing the job.

ebony and natural sounds nice. make sure the underside of the leaves
are refinished clean, not nasty looking from stripping. the underside of the
tbl to the skirt needs to be clean too.

I know to pay for the job will be costly. I've already received some phone bids. I am not afraid to get dirty so I would like to try it myself. Heck I figure at least I can strip the table. I just want to make sure I don't do a step that I cannot backout of. But once I put stripper on it's no going back. I hate chemicals. I will be doing this in our basement with a basement window (up high kind) for ventilation. I can run a floor fan also. Once I get the table stripped I will need an ebony stain for the legs, underneath the drop leaves and the aprons. Then I hope no color adjustment is needed for the top and I can finish it off with clear. I could use some guidance on what is the best, fastest, friendlist product for stripping the table? And ebony stain and clear for the top. Thanks!

I read the how to's on finishes. This sounds like the one for me. How many coats though? How many is 'enough'?? Time isn't the issue. We can put on 100 if necessary I just don't know how many is 'a good number'.

Tung/Danish Oil

Positives: inexpensive, easy to apply, durable, water-resistant.
Negatives: A smooth finish takes a good number of coats. Slow drying.

can you wait and strip the tbl in the garage or outside?
are there any pilot lites in the basement.
sounds like a "day-light" basement.
i use my basement although not in the winter because of the
pilot lites and in the summer i can open the garage door a bit and then
the basement door plus fans and get an outgoing wind pattern.
that is if the wind is from the nw, sw and im fighting the wind direction.

when you use the tung oil just remember to spread out any rags outside
to dry thereby avoiding spontaneous combustion probs.
remember to be gentel with the stripped pieces, no need to add dents.
as to how many coats of tung oil, its up to you, you can add coats
in the house in place in the summer every year if you wish.

buy a resperator at a paint store for when you strip and wash the pieces.
buy a good set of stripping gloves that will handle the type of stripper you
use as well the wash.
when using the putty knife to remove finish, pull towards you to avoid
gouging.

turn the tbl upside down on a bench and do the legs and skirt first.
then set the tbl on its legs to do the top.
if you use saw horses , pad the top of the horses.

as to what stripper, i use the nastiest kind, it strips faster, use
a "heavy bodied" stripper for vertical surfaces, and the top as well.
u can also use the liquid stripper to scrub with after you "think" you
have the finish off with the "hb" stripper. then i use laquer thinner
to wash the whole piece with a green pad.

if you have the pieces truly stipped then use 220 sand paper.
if the paper "loads up" with finish then you have not stripped it well.

minwax has an ebony stain, let it dry depending on the temp for at least a
day. then tung oil?

are you doing the chairs? that will be where the work is.

i suggest you invest in a porter cable sander 330 model, western tool,
to your door. a great sander, remember to wear your resperator.
and buy a set of headphones/safety for your ears, makes all the difference.

not doing chairs- selling them..too fancy...table is simple lines..no carving or intricate work to strip (thank goodness!) It's straight legged chippendale.

I'm trying not to mess up the wood or stain below. Be gentle with the wood. I was going to use a 'refinisher' to dissolve the finish, not a paint stripper. Time consuming but I want to do it right. It got a beautiful finish on it now. It's a Statton solid cherry...it's gorgous but it'll still be gorgeous when I get done with it.

Our basement does have a gas furnace and water heater- I guess the garage will be best. Guess I'll wait til the weather warms up since I'll need to park outside. Thanks for the tip,leewaytoo.