Q: I sanded my wood floors for new finish but did not take off all of the old finish. I applied a coat, let it cure overnight, sanded, and when I started to wipe down with a rag damp with paint thinner, the finish started to pull and wrinkle. What do I do now?
A: Start over, and this time, remove all the old finish down to the bare wood. At this point it is too late to save it, but for future reference, several companies, including the one you mentioned, make special finish kits for recoating existing floors without removing the old finish. The first step in all of them is a cleaning and etching solution that allows the new finish to adhere to a cleaned surface, a very important step.
Q: I bought an old table at a garage sale. I stripped it and stained it two different colors. I have too much stain on it. What can I use to remove some of the stain?
A: You can remove a lot of excess stain by scrubbing the wood with nylon abrasive pads and liberal amounts of lacquer thinner, wiping with paper shop towels as you go.
Please remember that staining means flooding on, then wiping it all off immediately, leaving only what the wood will absorb. If the wood absorbed too much doing it that way, whether or not you can remove it depends on exactly what type of stain it is. There are different ways to deal with dye and pigment, and also different methods for various solvents and vehicles (oil, acrylic, etc.) Thus, to remove stain that is absorbed, you need to know exactly what type it was.
Q: I am finishing 26 solid maple table tops for a friend who will use them in a restaurant. They are to be finished in latex primer for first coat, latex semi gloss for second coat, and 2 coats of metallic latex. Should these tops have a clear coat applied for maximum wear resistance after all these other coats?
A: Finish, like a chain, is only as strong as its weakest link, and in this case, that might be the latex. I say might because the term latex is used to mean waterbased paint in general. True latex is too soft and heat sensitive for a table top, and might move even though it were below a tougher or more brittle finish, causing cracking and delamination. Some waterbased acrylics would be much more durable, and adding a coat of clear waterbased polyurethane might help in some areas, such as the ability to resist stains. In general, though, non-cross linked waterbased coatings, whether latex, acrylic or polyurethane, have only a moderate resistance to heat and chemicals, and I am not sure I’d want that for a restaurant table.
If you have not yet done the tables, I’d strongly suggest you work from the top down; first choose the final finish for durability, then find color coats that are compatible with your topcoat. For the top coat I would choose a cross linked coating. These include catalyzed lacquer, conversion varnish, two part automotive urethanes and one package, self curing waterbased finishes. Some companies are now selling this last group for furniture, but most are sold as ultra-durable floor finishes, such as Bona Chemi Mega. Most floor finishes in particular have a wide compatibility with paints, but do choose something like a 100% acrylic rather than a true latex, and check with whatever company you choose to see what paints their finish will tolerate beneath it.
Q: I have a beautiful, simple cherry wood dining room table that has many stains on it. It does not have polyurethane on it. How do I refinish it?
A: Are you implying that it is completely unfinished? If so, you can probably simply clean it, sand it, remove the stains and finish. However, some finishes may not look like films, but may still be there in the wood. Thus, without seeing it, I’d suggest you go the whole refinishing route. Start with paint remover to take off any finish on or in the wood. Follow that with a scrub of lacquer thinner and another of mineral spirits, both wiped with paper shop towels, to ensure the wood is clean. Sand, then see which stains are left. It’s easier to remove them if you know what they are, and different stains require different removal methods. In addition, veneered wood has different options than solid wood.
Because refinishing is a more complicated ritual than product labels make it sound, I’d suggest you have a guide by your side for this project. Modesty aside, I think the best one is one of my books; The New Wood Finishing Book. It will walk you through this rather messy and confusing process step by step.
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