Expert: maura macaluso - 10/18/2011

Question
I had an old mahogany dining table that I wanted to refinish. I stripped it, but then decided to have it finished by a professional. When the table was returned to me, the legs, leaves, and skirt looked great, but the table top was cloudy or milky looking, the color was off, the grain barely showing.  Can it be fixed, or do I have to start over and have it refinished again?

Answer
Barb,

    Unfortunately, I believe the answer to your question is yes, the top will need to be sanded and refinished.  There are so many reasons for this "cloudiness" to have occurred. Possibilities include, too thick a layer of clear coat applied, not proper techniques used, such as drying time between coats, contaminated brush, contaminated clear coat product,, humidity affecting the product. Before refinishing, there is only one thing I can think of that you can try first to try to reduce the milkiness but of course not knowing the true cause of  it and not being able to see the table in person, there is no guarantee that this will help at all, but since it doesn't involve much, I would give it a shot. Cover the table top with a dry soft cotton towel(try in one area-rather than the entire top first to see if there is a difference), using an iron on a non steam medium setting, run the iron over the towel protected top until the top is nice and warm, never letting the table top actually get hot. do it for a little while, constantly moving the iron so the heat is evenly applied. Don't press the iron with any force, just let it glide over the top. Keep ironing and applying the medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Remove the towel and let the top return to room temperature. Then check it to see if there is any difference.  If it is humidity causing the issue, it may lessen the problem. If this has any impact at all, you can decide whether to iron the rest of the top and perhaps repeating this whole process a few times till you are more satisfied with the finish. If this does nothing, then Yes, it will need to be sanded down to wood and another clear coat applied.  If it were me, I would ask the original guy do it over, since he should stand by his work and can use the same type of clear coat so it will match the rest of the table.  Thanks for the question and I hope you have success with your issue.