Help Refinishing Dining Room Table

[Paul Page]

We have a beautiful dining room table, cherry veneer with burl border. It is very sensitive and shows marks and stains very easily to the extent that we must keep it covered all the time. We've been trying to refinish it and are having a very difficult time. We first sanded it and used polyurethane, but it left a cloudy finish. The guys at Woodcraft suggested water-based poly rather than the Minwax. After several coats on the leaf, it is leaving a lot of brush-marks and spots where it doesn't seem to be fully absorbed. We're about at wits end and wondering if there is something else we should be trying. We've finished lots of furniture in the past, but never had this kind of problem. We don't mind starting over, but want to make sure we don't go down the wrong path again.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

[Tim Howell]

Sounds like a beautiful table – I’d hate to put poly on it. 1. Get a top quality brush and tip off your finish stroke – better to spray on a large surface. If you must use poly – maybe a wipe on would work better. 2. Try sanding back and then put a coat of Zinsser seal coat – its wax free Shellac and will seal off the surface. The spotting may be from polishing with silicone waxes or some other contaminates on the surface.

[Lee Schierer]

I wouldn't use poly. I would use a brushable lacquer. You won't want to do this in the house though as the fumes are bad. You can apply lacquer in an unheated building, it just takes longer to dry.

[George Octon]

It sounds like you would have wanted to strip it first. That way you would at least strat with a clean even surfave, considering of course that you stripped and cleaned it evenly. For this you would use a liquid stripper like Kwik.

It's hard to know if your problems are with an uneven surface or in the finishing process. It would be extremely difficult I would think brushing on lacquer. A rub on ploy 9or other rub on finish if there is one) would probably be the easiest and most effective. Poly is looked down by some, but it has been very widely used for years and years by professional refinishers for years. And Norm too. Most professional refinishers probably spray though and with lacquer or something similar.