Modern light oak furniture finishes?

[UserError]

Hi, we have a M&S dining table and a House of Fraser sideboard (so presumably reasonable-ish quality?), both in light oak, with a natural-ish finish. Both have light water marks & general wear & tear. We have been quoted £180 to refinish just the table top which we were just about ok with. However, as we would like the sideboard to be refreshed and we are looking for (secondhand) bookcase & another smaller sideboard, it occurred to me that we could do this. I have made smaller wood projects and have always used Danish oil,so have done a bit of finishing but only at a protective level rather than a fine finish. We also have an oak nest of tables that I can practice on.

My big question is what is the existing finish likely to be & how to deal with it? It must be permeable to some extent, as it has water marks.

I have read through a good number of posts on this forum but am not clear how to remove whatever is on there: the table top is veneered - if I left stripper on there for 24 hours, would it cause the veneer to lift?

I'm looking for a reasonably hard-wearing finish - Osmo poly x seems to be a reasonable candidate. Any other considerations?
Many thanks.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

My big question is what is the existing finish likely to be & how to deal with it? It must be permeable to some extent, as it has water marks.

I have read through a good number of posts on this forum but am not clear how to remove whatever is on there: the table top is veneered - if I left stripper on there for 24 hours, would it cause the veneer to lift?

I'm looking for a reasonably hard-wearing finish - Osmo poly x seems to be a reasonable candidate. Any other considerations?
Many thanks.

The original finish on both items is most likely some sort of lacquer sprayed on, quite posiibly over a dye or a stain, or even potentially both The likely lacquer candidates are a pre-cat or post-cat type. As to stripper, it shouldn't lift the veneer if you use it as directed. I wouldn't leave stripper on a surface for 24 hours unless the instructions say to do so. I'm not aware of a polish stripper that carries this sort of instruction, but there may be strippers out there I don't use that do.

Osmo products have become popular, but they don't have either the look or feel of a lacquered finish if that's what you're after. If you don't wish to replicate what's already on, Osmo would be fine, but will it match the additional furniture you're looking to buy(?), and will that matter to you? Osmo finishes always seem a bit soft, slightly sticky and sometimes a bit rubbery to me even when fully cured, but I suspect that's the intended end result - it is or they are, after all, an oil finish, albeit different to linseed and tung oil, both of which have a similar softness to them. I'm not especially convinced they're as bomb proof as some people say because I've seen enough Osmo finished items looking pretty sad after a year or two of use to make me wonder just how tough they are, but the desirability of toughness is an issue you'd need to weigh up for yourself regarding your potential project. Slainte.

 

[ED65]

My big question is what is the existing finish likely to be & how to deal with it? It must be permeable to some extent, as it has water marks.

Even a very high-level finish is less water-resistant than its full potential when applied thinly. And the desired look of lots of modern stuff is for there to be a 'barely there' finish, so they tend to under-apply finishes. This of course also makes their accountants happy because they use less finish and don't have to spend as long on that step :lol:

Add in a few years of cleaning (water degrades finishes) and light exposure (UV degrades finishes) and you have pieces looking a bit tired and without the protection one would want.

The two likely candidates for finish on this are a varnish and lacquer, possibly cellulose lacquer. If it's lacquer it'll be easy as pie to strip, if it's varnish it'll be a little tougher (pun intended).

I have read through a good number of posts on this forum but am not clear how to remove whatever is on there

If the piece allows I would scrape most or all of the finish off myself. On something where you don't have to try to keep patina I'd highly recommend it, if you have a suitable scraper.

Veneers these days may be very thin so scraping needs to be done carefully but it's still doable. If you want to err on the side of caution you can just scrape the majority of the finish off, leaving a thin smear on/in the surface for the stripper to deal with, which makes the stripping go a lot faster and uses much less of the product.

I'm looking for a reasonably hard-wearing finish - Osmo poly x seems to be a reasonable candidate.

Actually it's not nearly as hard-wearing as its usually made out to be. As an aside I'm betting money that most of the Osmo stuff (and its clones) is going to be shown to be less durable than claimed once people have put more mileage on things.

Anyway you don't need to compromise on durability because there's a superb candidate among consumer finishes and it's polyurethane varnish. It couldn't be easier to apply too which makes it a complete winner in my book. It has everything going for it: low price, easy application, makes the wood look great, and good to excellent water- and scratch-resistance. You can't ask for much more from a finish

 

[UserError]

Hi, thanks Sgian for taking the time to write that. A lot of food for thought.

Re osmo, I don't like that slightly sticky feeling so that's worth knowing.

The stripper point was taken from another thread on here where it seems that if using 'eco' stripper, it needs a long time to act & covering it with cling film &leaving it seemed to work. It's a long time since I used Nitromors so don't know if it still works well

I'm not necessarily after the same finish, which is a very soft sheen but I wouldn't want to go shinier than that. I have a compressor & have , in my youth, done a bit of car spraying, so maybe I need to look at lacquers if you can buy something equivalent that doesn't need a spray booth extraction & Noddy suit.

I have used Danish oil a few times, but only at a protective level, on a box for my planes and our office shelved etc, rather than a fine finish.

We are likely to buy tired looking furniture - even if we got it done professionally or at least partially-its the tops that get most of the marks, it's cheaper than buying new. Better still if I can rise to this challenge & do it myself.

I now need to determine the pros and cons of lacquer, varnish, oil & wax. I have found various posts which don't necessarily clarify things from which I'll have to tease the details out. I might even get sufficiently organised to make a matrix! Unless there's a decent book which covers this topic?
Thanks
J

 

[ED65]

Lacquer: tough and durable, easy to strip in due course if ever needed. Can be water-white if desired.
Varnish: tough and durable, not easy to strip. Some slight ambering of the wood.

Both of the above can be modified to any desired sheen level after application, so no need to buy matt, semi-gloss, satin etc. You can just buy gloss and adjust sheen as needed afterwards.

Oil: lower sheen usually (depends on sanding level and application process), not much protection from scrapes, decent protection from heat if applied to the right wood, little waterproofing. This is for actual oils not finishes like Danish oil which are actually mixtures of varnish and oil and have properties in between the two.
Wax: potentially very glossy, almost no protection from anything. Wax is generally a shine agent only, not a finish in its own right except among turners.

I have used Danish oil a few times, but only at a protective level, on a box for my planes and our office shelved etc, rather than a fine finish.

For anything that doesn't need top-level waterproofing Danish oil will usually work out fine.

I prefer to wipe on varnish though since it's essentially exactly the same application process and yields superior protection across the board.

Unless there's a decent book which covers this topic?

Although written for the American market you can't go wrong with anything from Bob Flexner. "Wood Finishing 101" is a good ground-up starter from him. Couple of other books by Michael Dresdner and Jeff Jewitt are also worth a read.

One of your local libraries might have one or more books on finishing, mine do.