I have never worked with wood before, and this is going to be my first DIY wood project. I did a significant amount of research, but still have questions as I don't want to damage a piece of furniture I am working on.
I have an old solid wood coffee table. It has scratches and black rings, so I decided to refinish it. In my understanding, the workflow is as follows:
- Strip off the old finish
- Remove the residue using a stripping pad soaked in mineral spirits.
- Bleach the top to get rid of the black rings.
- Sand the table.
- Apply a pre-stain conditioner
- Stain
- Apply a finish. Sand after each coat.
My questions are as follows:
- Is my understanding correct?
- Which steps are optional?
- Would you recommend to sand manually or use an orbital sander?
- What type of finish should I apply if I want to preserve the matte look of the table?
I appreciate your help and apologize if some of questions sound silly.