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jan_in_wisconsin

Help - Do I have to Refinish my Refinishing Project?

jan_in_wisconsin
9 years ago

So I'm working on my first significant refinishing project. It's a depression era side board/buffet that seems to be mahogany with a very dark stain/varnish. The top has some water marks and minor dings. It's not a valuable piece.

My goal is to strip and then stain/poly the top. The rest will be painted and waxed.

I started with Citri Strip on the top. It worked pretty well, except afterward, I noticed some shiny spots along the grain of the wood. I assumed this indicated that I hadn't actually removed all of the finish with the Citri Strip, so I did another application, including the use of mineral spirits and steel wool in the removal.

After the second application, I didn't notice the shiny spots. I then hand sanded.

I washed the top and allowed it to dry. Then, I stained it with a Minwax oil penetrating wood stain in the Provincial color. I also applied a second coat. After the second coat dried, I noticed a sheen around the wood grain pattern areas. The stain seemed to be dry there, but sitting on the surface. Again, from an angle, I can see a shine pattern following the wood grain swirls.

I thought maybe the stain hadn't been wiped well enough, and I read on the Minwax site to apply another coat of stain, allow it to sit briefly and then wipe fully with a lint-free rag. I did that, and I can still see these high-sheen areas that follow the wood grain pattern.

I have NOT applied poly yet.

Is this normal, or does this mean that the original varnish was not fully removed? Ughh!

Again, these areas of shine seem to be dry and really only show around the swirls of the wood grain.

Does anyone have any insight?

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