table top finish??

[taandctran]

I bought a table and 6 chairs used, for real cheap. On the way home the table top got scratched. I am wanting to sand out the scratches and refinish. What type of finish is best to use on the table top??? Thanks for the help. :gar-Bi

 

[McRabbet]

Thanh,

I refinished a kitchen table about four years ago that had a Maple veneer top that didn't blend well with the Cherry finish cabinets we had in our new house. The finish has been well stressed over the years he'd had the table and it was rieady for a change. I carefully sanded the top with a 120 grit belt on a 3" x 21" belt sander and finished with 150/180/220 grits in my ROS, being very careful not to sand through the veneer. After getting all of the dust off, I then stained the maple with Behlen's Solarlux Cherry stain and let it dry overnight. I followed that with a 50:50 reduced coat of Behlen Rock Hard Tabletop Varnish (I used their thinner, but quality mineral spirits would do). Then I added two more coats of Rock Hard Tabletop Varnish using a good "china" bristle brush -- use light strokes and keep the brush nearly vertical to avoid bubbles (you can thin it by 10% if you want). This produced an extremenly durable, high gloss finish -- to this day, we use the table and it still looks like new with no waterspots at all. Behlen's products are available at Klingspor or Woodcraft or the Woodworking Store. HTH.

 

[taandctran]

Thanks for the help Rob... Thankfully this table is solid wood. Wont have to worry about sanding through the veneer. but I'll head to Klingspore sometime this week to pick some Behlen Rock Hard Tabletop Varnish up. Thanks again