Refinishing old red brown firniture and new wood

[sgtdave]

I'm sorry for the sort of confusing title for my questiosns, but my need is a little unusual (at least for me).

I have two pieces of old furniture (a blanket chest and a hutch - top half only). I have cleaned up the hutch top and removed old paint, shellac, and what ever. The red color is still predominant, but some areas show old dark exposed wood which is probably old virgin yellow pine.

FIRST: I want to refinsh both items and restore the color to somethng close to the original.

SECOND: I need to make a new bottom cabinet for the hutch. Of course, I want it to match as closely as possible the refinished top. I need ot know what to do to the bottom to make certain it comes out to the same color or at leastr very close.

I will appreciate any help I can get. Right now I am stumped. I am thonking about making the bottom cabinet out of poplar or yellow pine. Is there a better chioce?

 

[TBradley190]

If you want to make it match, you will need to know for certain what wood species it is. If it is indeed pine, your best bet would be find some reclaimed lumber for the lower and completly strip and sand the upper. Depending on what the orignal was finished with, you may not be able to get it down to the bare wood. Then you make tint samples to match it up before your final finish. We might could help better if you could post a pic of it. Good luck with it!

Tim

 

[sgtdave]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will post pics tomorrow. Maybe we can get other ideas. I definitely cannot remove all of the color on the old piece. The blanket chest is a bet bite because I can just even it out. Need to look for a good dye color match.

 

[Jeff]

Dave,

+1 to pics needed for better advice/suggestions. How about sanding a portion of the hutch upper half at about 120 g, wet with MS, and get a good pic of how it'll look under a clear finish?

The reddish color that you note suggests that it's old growth longleaf pine because that is characteristic of the species (not yellow pine). This table is old growth longleaf without any stain.

This one is SPF pine from a local BORG which has a gel stain applied to it and it's a little more on the brownish side.

You can get old growth longleaf pine (quartersawn or flat sawn) from Appalachian Woods in Stuarts Draft, VA. Browse through their pics and see if that's kind of what you're looking for.

http://www.appalachianwoods.com/

 

[sgtdave]

Thanks for info and help. Also thanks for not tasking at my typo "firniture" instead of "furniture".

I would have posted pictures earlier but I had problems with web sit elocking up an not responding when trying to upload pics.

Here a couple of pics.

The actual color is more red than brown on the hutch. Also wondering about finishing up with milk paint as an alternative. Would that work t oget both pieces the same.

 

[Rick M]

Factory finishes are hard to match unless you simulate their methods which include a mix of dye, stains and toners meant to obscure the wood grain.

 

[Jeff]

Dave,

Milk paint is certainly an option if that's the old timey appearance that you folks like or want. That way you can build the bottom part of the hutch out of anything cheap that works and it'll match the top half after painting.

I would recommend sealing both the top and bottom with Zinsser Seal Coat shellac at a 1 lb. cut prior to painting. It'll seal in the old grease/discoloration on the old shelves too.

I don't know about milk paint adhesion over shellac so let's hope that Howard Acheson chimes in (he's our resident finishing expert).