Refinishing horribly abused pine cupboards - Toby, help!

[Feltwell]

Not finished yet Toby, I got distracted doing other things. But a "Work in Progress" picture is below, even though it's not the best quality picture (taken in the dark with camera flash) I think you can tell which door has just been stripped and which one has been stripped, sanded, shellac'd, sanded and waxed.....



Using the shellac prior to a final sand and waxing made such a difference, great advice, thank you - after that the wood truly was as smooth as a baby's bum.

The burn marks are of course there to stay, but I have managed to reduce their impact slightly. Some Liberon solvent-based wood dye in antique pine was useful with a fine artists brush for touching up a few white marks as well, where pins had gone in to hold the mouldings on.

I'll post up another picture when it's all done.

 

[Toby Newell]

Looks fantastic.

Actually really does look fantastic, not sure I could of done a better job myself, some things require a lot of technical skill whilst others just require a little knowledge, patience and hard work, your diligence and hard work will reward you with a cupboard which will 'glow' and am sure will receive many more compliments!

 

[Feltwell]

Well, the cupboard's still not done, got slightly distracted with other things (in the same room, in my defense!)

However, for anyone doubting if it's worth the effort, I've refinished the very rough pine door to the kitchen using (most of!) the guidance on Toby's site - hot washing soda wash, sand, shellac sanding sealer, lightly sand, wax - and it's made a big difference. The sanding sealer in particular is well worth doing, makes the finish so much smoother, and is very easy to do.

Side of door not done yet:-





Other side of door, after washing, sanding, sealing, sanding & 1 coat of wax - colour looks a bit variable but that's more the photo than reality:-





OK, not quite as per Toby's site, but close - hot washing soda wash with a gentle nylon scouring pad, rinse, left to dry for a couple of weeks, sanded by hand with a Abranet hand sander (that connects to a vacuum cleaner) starting at 240 grit, then painted with some Fiddes Shellac sealer (just because I already had some), then sanded again at 320 grit, then finished with some Mylands Stripped Pine wax. I went for a coloured wax as darkening the wood slightly makes it fit better with some other wood in the room. It's not a perfect finish, but I don't want it to be, the door still has plenty of patina and the gloss of the new wax should dull with a bit of time I reckon.

 

[Flyfisher]

Good job and lovely result. I was wondering what had been keeping you quiet. Now, back to that cupboard . . . :wink:

 

[Toby Newell]

Nice.

 

[Feltwell]

Good job and lovely result. I was wondering what had been keeping you quiet. Now, back to that cupboard . . . :wink:

Indeed!

After 10 years here, I took a bit of a break from house stuff and got distracted with other things for a while, which has done me good really. Now back to it! I'm changing jobs around Christmas time, so will probably take the opportunity to take a week or two out and finally finish tackling the restoration of the bay window in our lounge, a job I've been putting off completing for far too long - January of course being the ideal time to do outside work that will put a big hole in the house temporarily and will eventually have to involve paint :roll:

Trouble is, holiday time is precious, I like to save that for going away with the kids - I just need to find a job where they give me the cash and don't worry too much about the "work" bit and I might finish this house!

 

[Flyfisher]

Trouble is, holiday time is precious, I like to save that for going away with the kids - I just need to find a job where they give me the cash and don't worry too much about the "work" bit and I might finish this house!

I'd say you've got your priorities right. I, too, have definitely slowed down on our project as the major issues have been fixed, to the extent that I sometimes worry about some of the decorative stuff ever being totally finished! Definitely fix any significant structural issues with some haste in order to protect the future of the building but thereafter any project has to be properly balanced with the other important stuff of life - of which kids must surely rank pretty highly!