Expert: Eileen Cronk - 8/9/2006

Question

I thank you for responding back to me so fast! I feel sorry for me, but I'm willing to learn from my mistake, if you are willing to teach through E-Mail!
First, I sanded the chair, because I took advise from a family member who does work with wood and furniture and thats what she told me to do!(thats what I get for listening)LOL
Second, Did I ruin the chair?  Please say that I didn't! If I did can I fix it?
Third, I had a feeling that I was going to need to use a Paint Stripper, but never thought to use Steel Wool!  So you want me to use NO WOOD FILLER in the damaged areas, correct? As for sanding, believe it or not I have been using about 3-4 different kinds of paper with different degrees of grit.  The reason why I sanded was because in most areas of the chair it was uneven and cracking from not being taken cared for.  I figured sanding would even out those areas, and it did, but I won't do it anymore, promise! LOL  Now with the stain or varnish, I don't know what to use? Please let me know what you would use to bring out the "real Wood" effect? The chair has hard wood, asked my husband to help me check, after I went on line to see how you can tell if the wood is soft or hard!  I'm a complete no brainer when it comes to stuff like this, but it's going step by step and slow!  But I don't mind the time length, as long as it turns out good and beautiful!  You stated that I might be able to restore some of the "aged look" into the chair, will the stripper help with that, or do I have to do something else?  Please tell me your wisdom!  I'm going to try and attach some pictures to this response letter so maybe you can see and suggest ideas better..  O.K. that doesn't work, it won't allow me to do that.  Below I have enlcosed a link to my Kodak Gallery on line, and than you can see the pictures of the rocking chair.  Just copy and paste this link to Internet Explorer and go, it should send you directly to the pictures.  I tried it and it worked for me, if this doesn't work for you please let me know and maybe we can send it to your email address.

LINK:  http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?
c=aebi8hl.btpoih7x&x=1&y=l7eh9p

Once again I look forward to your opinion and help with this chair, have a great day.

Carisa








Followup To

Question -
"Hi,  let me tell you a little bit about what I'm working on, so you know what I'm talking about!

I've recieved the family Heirloom that has been in my family for 80 plus years. A Rocking Chair. My mother had it before me and didn't take care of it at all.  I've had it in my hands for about 1 month now, and I've ran into some problems.

First, the bottom of the rocking chair (curved legs, where is lets you rock), has been chewed on by dogs and it has left grooves, dent, chunks gone, and, ok it's just bad!  How can or should I fix this?  I have sanded the chair already, and the legs, but you can still see the damage.  Any suggestions?

Second, The back and arms of the chair has long rectangle spindles and I can't get in between them to sand?  What can I use to get the "RED VARNISH" that was put on the chair, that I have sanded off already?  I've tried a dremel, but even on the slowest speed it leaves groves and dents in the wood, don't like it, I've tried hand sanding in between them, but it's not removing the stain completely, so I'm at a loss!  Can you help or suggest something to use?

The red varnish that was put on the chair, ruined the chair (my opinion), as I was removing the varnish, a very beautiful wood was coming out.  The knotts and the grain in the wood is just amazing!  I'm going to use a Natural wood stain on it when I finished to bring out the natural look of the wood.  Should I use a natural wood stain or varnish?

This is my first project with stripping and refinishing "wooden furniture", I'm enjoying it, and learning as well, but this has me stumped and I can't get nobody to help me or even suggest anything!  I've been on many sites and nothing!  I found this site on "Google", and hoping someone will feel sorry for me and help me as much as they can.

I thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!


Carisa Gorak


Answer -
Hi Carisa
Nice to hear from you.
What a great question and I will help you with your chair..not because I feel sorry for you LOL..but because you seem so keen to learn.
OK..first off a rap on the knuckles from the teacher.
Never never sand old things like this unless it is 100% necessary. In this case it was not necessary to sand to remove the red varnish.
You should have done a complete stripping with paint stripper to remove the finish. Then if the red stain residue remained you use wood bleach to get it off, but in most cases this is just not necessary either.
You will not like what my suggestion for removing the stain on the spindles is, but its what I would do at this point. I would apply paint stripper liberally to the spindles and give it a while to work. Then rag it off one spindle at a time and while the spindle is still wet use steel wool instead of sandpaper to get in all the grooves. If you unroll the steel wool balls (you will have a strip of steel wool about 10 inches long)and wrap it once around the spindle and work it back and forth you will be amazed at the result. Then rag off the next spindle and once again while the spindle is still wet use the steel wool.
And now you are really going to hate what I tell you next, but its what I would do.
I would apply paint stripper to the rest of the chair and once again work in sections..rag off and steel wool while the wood is still.
When you get to the areas the dog chewed, apply the stripper, but really rub the steel wool in these areas.
Do nothing else in the damaged areas. Yes...just leave them alone but get all the stripper out of the holes with a toothbrush.
Now I know your thinking.."what the heck would she go over the entire chair with paint stripper and steel wool if I have already sanded"..right?
While the purpose of that is this.
It will help to remove a lot of the signs that the chair has been sanded..I don't care how well you think you sanded, its virtually impossible to properly sand this type of chair without taking it totally apart.
And in order to get the surface as smooth as before it was touched, you must use at least 4 different grades of sandpaper. I am also hoping you can restore a bit of the aged look to the chair.
Now the stain question you asked.
Carissa this chair was never meant to have just a natural stain on it and I just cannot agree with you on this.
The chair will look like someone has refinished it and badly at that.
In all cases I strive to put a stain and finish on that retains the pieces integrity and people cannot tell its been tampered with. (Oh an expert could for sure LOL..but not most people)
Unfortunately I cannot see what type of wood you have, but it would sure be nice to know that before trying to tell you a stain color. And it would be nice to know if its soft wood or hardwood although I suspect hardwood. Do you have anyone there to help with that?
So mull over what I am saying and get back to me please.
Regards
Eileen  

Answer
Hi Again Carisa
I could not access the pics.
send to ecronk@sympatico.ca
Make sure they are no larger than 7 x 5 inches as I am on dial up and my pc dumps large downloads.
I will wait the pics before advising on stain color, but as a final finish I recommend nothing but low lustre tung oil applied with a rag. 3 or 4 coats.
You have not ruined your chair but you have ruined the chairs "patina" by sanding it.
This patina takes years and years to get there. Even the cracks you see were OK because after the chair is properly done it adds character.
And no filler in the chew marks. I want you to do like I suggested before. Then I will see a photo of the chew marks and decide, but I doubt I will change my mind on this.
Yes I feel the stripper and steel wool will help take away the raw sanded look to a good degree. This has been my experience over the years.
And trust me when I tell you, you are not the first to grab the sandpaper.LOL
A lot of my work is fixing up what others have started.
A lot of time someone will strip the top of a lovely old dresser, then see a little mark (or big one) and get out the sand paper...or horror of horrors the belt sander.
Then give up and bring the dresser to me to finish.
So I have a dresser with a lovely bottom section and a top that looks like new wood with all kinds of scratches.
So after I sand out their scratches, I apply stripper and really rub with steel wool.
I have found that if I omit the stripper part the wood has a raw , too new look to it.
Just my experience and perhaps no one elses.
Talk Soon
Eileen