This vintage wood table had a damaged finish on the top and on the shelf. There was no way to save the finish, so I used furniture stripper to remove the old finish. I share some refinishing techniques and collaborate with Trena on the @johnsfurniturerepair YouTube channel to test out a new furniture stripper.
Once the finish was removed from the table, the top still looked really bad. I sanded it down past the stain to the bare wood before building up the color with dye stains. I chose to use a French Polish finish on this table. I’ve been doing a lot of research on French Polish and this was my first time using it on a project. I share my experience as I built up the finish through multiple layers of shellac to get a beautiful finish.
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RESOURCES:
Wood Stain Color Wheel:
🇨🇦 Canadian link –
Garnet Shellac Flakes –
Book: Classic Finishing Techniques (French Polishing details) –
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Book: Taunton’s Complete Illustrated Guide to Finishing –
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Book: Understanding Wood Finishing –
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Book: Methods of Work: Finishing: The best tips from 25 years of Fine Woodworking –
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Note: purchases made with these links help contribute to our video production work
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See the tools we use in our workshop and the tools we recommend:
🇨🇦 Canadian link –
Fixing Furniture is hosted by Scott Bennett, Owner of Wooden It Be Nice – Furniture Repair in Brooklin, Ontario, Canada.
#refinishing #vintage #FrenchPolish