Baby High-chair Refinish

[Jeff]

Starting to refinish a 20 year old high-chair for my neighbor to eventually give to his daughter or son.

History: Bought at an unfinished furniture place (looks like pine). He stained it with something then he thinks that he top-coated it with polyurethane per the recommendation from the store.

I'm now scuff "sanding" it by hand with some Scotch-Brite pads (grey-coarse stripping pad and green-heavy duty pad) so most of the stained areas still look pretty good without much cut-through so I'm not being very aggressive.

1. Can I put a wipe on/wipe off oil based stain over this to touch it up a bit? This doesn't have to be a fine furniture finish for the intended use.

2. I'd like to top coat with Zinnser clear rattle-can shellac, but maybe an oil based poly would be better since the base coat is poly. :dontknow:

Recommendations and experience are always appreciated. Many thanks.

 

[bluedawg76]

i would be wary of using shellac as a final topcoat given the abuse a high chair would see -spills, food, constantly wiped down and scrubbed, etc. although it certainly would be easier to refinish in the future...again.

Sam

 

[Howard Acheson]

High chairs by their very nature are generally very dirty. Lots of contaminates get onto the surfaces over its life. The first step is to aggressively and complete de-grease the surfaces and then wash off any soluble dirt.

First wipe it down with mineral spirits using a green Scotchbrite pad followed by wiping down and drying with lots of paper towels. Then use a cleaner like Fantastic which you rinse off well. Let the chair fully dry for a couple of days. Then be sure the surfaces are thoroughly scuff with something like the green Scotchbrite. Rub in the direction of the grain. Vacuum off the dust followed by wiping with a rag lightly dampened with mineral spirits.

As a final prep step, spray on a barrier coat of dewaxed shellac. Zinsser Spray Can shellac works well. Now you can apply a gel stain following the directions on the label. The a couple of coat of a poly varnish will give you much more durable finish than using shellac. Shellac does not stand up to household cleaners which are typically used to clean up baby food messes. I would avoid it as a top coat.

 

[Howard Acheson]

High chairs by their very nature are generally very dirty. Lots of contaminates get onto the surfaces over its life. The first step is to aggressively and complete de-grease the surfaces and then wash off any soluble dirt.

First wipe it down with mineral spirits using a green Scotchbrite pad followed by wiping down and drying with lots of paper towels. Then use a cleaner like Fantastic which you rinse off well. Let the chair fully dry for a couple of days. Then be sure the surfaces are thoroughly scuff with something like the green Scotchbrite. Rub in the direction of the grain. Vacuum off the dust followed by wiping with a rag lightly dampened with mineral spirits.

As a final prep step, spray on a barrier coat of dewaxed shellac. Zinsser Spray Can shellac works well. Now you can apply a gel stain following the directions on the label. The a couple of coat of a poly varnish will give you much more durable finish than using shellac. Shellac does not stand up to household cleaners which are typically used to clean up baby food messes. I would avoid it as a top coat.

 

[Jeff]

Good advice & thanks. It's been 30+ years since we've had to deal with high-chair mess and cleanup.

After clean-up I'll seal it with Zinsser Spray Shellac. Then...

How about a few coats of Waterlox Original? I really don't want to topcoat with poly again, but that's not a show stopper either (I did see some Rust-Oleum spray poly at the BORG yesterday; gloss, medium, and satin). :help: