the TABLE.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I know.

this post took way way too long.

I refinished this table last fall.

I polled the audience, I did it and then I left you hangin'!

the nerve!

Here's what I ended up doing:

Sanding the heck out of every inch of every piece.

took forever.

I used rubber gloves and a paper towel to spread India Ink all over those inches.

(read about India Ink online, purchased it for $23 at an arts supply store, used 3/4 of it, maybe less - interpt: super duper ridiculous cheap)

Then I mixed:

1/3 polyurethane

1/3 turpentine

1/3 boiled linseed oil

and used a brush/towel to wipe that all over every piece.

six times.

meaning I did one layer, let it dry for 24 hrs and then did another.

It was very fast, there are no brush strokes to worry about and it's oily so it just goes everywhere anyway.

I let it dry for about a week.

Linseed Oil can be a booger to get to dry.

We brought it in (by this time it was too cold to 'let it dry' in the garage so we protected the floor and just brought it in, was dry by the morning)

I like it.

Jake LOVES LOVES it.

I just like it because I can see all the things I wish I had done different every time I look at it.

So.

Here's Jake's list:

(the Pros)

1. You can see the wood grain still. Something he requested. Good job Holly.

2. It's not shiny, but it's protected. Because the polyurethane is mixed with other stuff you don't see the shininess of it and it won't peel off in a few years. (Polyurethane is just plastic so it will peel if you use it straight up)

BUT you can spill a whole glass of water on it and it beads up rather than soaking in to make water rings/water spots/etc.

(ok, I love this part too!)

3. He loves that it looks and feels like you just cut down a black tree and made a table out of raw wood (but softer 'cause I sanded it forever!)

Things I wish I had done different/Things I will most likely go back and do one day because I'm freaky perfectionist like that:

(the Cons)

1. You can see some of the lines from my sander because there are things about sanding I didn't know until this project. Lesson learned and it stares at me every day!

2. Don't leave spots unsanded, no matter how hard they are to get to. The ink won't take if you do.

3. You only need one pint of India Ink for a table this size. Could have saved $11.50.

4. More coats of the linseed oil/turpentine/polyurethane would have been better.

I can't explain why, I just know they would have been.

5. Back to sanding, the edges all seem a little sharp to me, wish I had paid attention to the legs being 'rounded'/softer.

It does look kinda cool.

Nothing I've ever seen before.

And there was NO stain or paint of any kind involved.

So, there ya go....

...and now I feel freed to go on to the next piece of furniture.