Heeeyho Readers! Doing some varnish work.
Got to the changing room at the gym the other day. Pulled my trousers to leave it on a shelf... cellphone went full Space-X flying through the air. Tried to catch. Failed. In that failed attempt, it went even farther, hitting the a urinal before splashing into the floor. Screen died. Not worth to fix because it was a s**t phone anyways. That mishap cost me a few unsaved photos from this DIY project. Bummer!
Anyways. Not sure if readers are interested in a detailed explanation about infinite hours of sanding, rather than simply enjoying the result. I certainly love to see the before and after, even more so when 
A while ago, mom asked if I could restore her solid wood center table. The old varnish had long vanished {pa-dum-tss}. It also got ugly mug stains on the top. Real problem of traditional finishes, I figured. That project has been completed, but, since the result was fantastic, I decided to do the same on another table we have — the one you see below.
This little table is in our house since forever. It's original matte varnish is gone. There are mug stains on the top and it looks kinda moldy. Mold is a huge pain-in-the-behind over here (coastal town); much like furniture in sailboats.
I'd bought high gloss polyurethane (pu) varnish for the other table, so, decided to go for the same finish on this one. Matte is awesome, no doubt! It's just to avoid mismatched furniture finishes in le mom's living room.
Le glorious sanding
Hate it!
Sanding by hand is tedious. Necessary, but incredibly tedious. Did I say it's tedious? Thank God this table is already smooth (with the exception of little scratches here and there), meaning I only need to sand out the old nearly nonexistent varnish.
I prefer finer grit sandpaper (280 or 320), though 180 worked as well; just gotta be gentle and follow the grains. Follow the grains, gents, that's the rule of sanding. Summon your inner Buddhist monk and keep on sanding.
The lost footage
I lost the photos from the sanding part along with the steps done in between varnish coats. I applied three coats of high gloss polyurethane (pu) — first and second coats sanded with 360 wet sandpaper; the last sanded using 500 and 1200 wet sandpaper + soap to polish the surface.
Steps
- Rough sand (180)
- First coat of varnish
- 360 wet sandpaper
- Second coat of varnish
- 360 wet sandpaper
- Third coat of varnish
- 500 wet sand paper and 1200 to polish
Uff! I get tired by just thinking. On the right, a picture right after the third coat of varnish.
The PU varnish I used is actually meant for wooden floors, thus its incredible durability, much like a super hard vitrified finish — exactly what I needed to water-proof our table tops. Not sure how it'll handle hot mug stains though. Anyone experienced on that?
Gotta say it turned out a lot cooler than the original matte finish. The wood grains came to life so beautifully. We don't see solid wood furniture around here anymore. Or they are pricey as fuck.
Just look at the super sexy patterns!
Our table is ready to out-last me, guarantee. What an immense difference a few coats of varnish can make and hours of boring sanding. I did get my hands incredibly sticky after messing up while painting our previous table. This time I learned to be more cautious, especially when mixing varnish and white spirit. Instructions say we can apply the varnish without any solvent, but I found it to be too thick, hence the white spirit to dissolve a little bit.
The rest is all about following the grains. Long, soft, brush strokes. Remembers me of The Karate Kid lesson "paint the fence". Up and down. Uuuuup, and down.
In the end, here's the result.
I hope you've enjoyed this little DIY work. Don't be afraid to fix stuff. Less buying, more fixing.
Ciao
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Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
