Gummed-Up Coffee Table 2/12/22
I seem to be doing a lot of projects around the Holidays and so related blog entries. This is another.
Just after the New Year a former neighbor and family friend phoned to ask if I would take a look at a cherry coffee table her first husband, Rick, made. Not only did Rick design, build and finish the coffee table, he cut down the cherry tree, and dried cut and milled the wood. With its book-matched top, the coffee table is a beautiful family heirloom. I was told, it is one of a number of pieces of furniture he made for immediate family members.
Apparently, the top was showing a little ware after 20 years. The woodworkers group at the retirement village where she lives with her second husband gave her a concoction to “clean and refinish” the top. It literally gummed-up the top, leaving a finish that was thick, soft and uneven. I believe I was contacted because about 8 years ago I brought back to life the finished on a wood built-in shelf unit for her.
Rick left notes about his various wood furniture projects. The one line he wrote on refinishing the coffee table referred to using “Tried and True Varnish Oil” to refinish. “Tried and True” is a brand of wood finishing products, and “Varnish Oil” is a standard blend of penetrating oil and varnish commonly known as “Danish Oil.” After loosening the gunk with Citristrip, scraping it off (with a plastic trowel to prevent scratches) into paper towels, thoroughly wiping down the table top and then doing so with odorless mineral spirits, I let the wood dry for a couple of days.
The beauty of the two pieces of book-matched and joined solid cherry was apparent in the unfinished table top both before and after drying.
My plan for refinishing the table top was to follow many of the standard steps Rick probably followed, starting with sanding the table top with progressively finer grits of sandpaper, thoroughly cleaning off the dust, burnish with steel wool, and thoroughly cleaning again (I like to vacuum off the dust and then dust with a Swiffer Duster). This would be followed by applying three coats of Danish Oil, wiping off the excess each time after about 15 minutes of coating and letting the thin remaining coat of oil dry for about 12 hours before lightly burnishing, vacuuming and dusting (except after the last coat). Given most of the ware would be on the table's top, I applied four coats of Danish Oil, letting the table dry for 24 hours in my basement workshop before moving it up stairs where it dried at room temperature for another day before delivery.
