Is Refinishing Wooden Furniture A Good Idea? What You Need To Know

How do you decide if refinishing a piece of furniture is worth the effort? As a professional woodworker, I get asked these questions regularly and my answer is — it depends. Putting aside the possibility that it might be a classic Hepplewhite piece worth eleventy-million dollars (chances are, it is not), my first question to would-be refinishers is this: what do you mean by refinishing? I'll assume that we are talking about removing an existing finish completely from an existing furniture piece, doing minor repair if necessary, and applying a new traditional-looking finish (as opposed to painting or upcycling old furniture).

The first thing to consider is whether the piece of furniture is structurally sound. Does it seem likely to fall apart? Is a table missing large sections of veneer? Are pieces or degraded or even missing? These sorts of problems are beyond the average DIYer and need a competent woodworker to fix. 

And what's the value of the piece? An additional question I field is whether by refinishing a significant piece of furniture, it becomes worth trying to sell for a nice profit. The answer here is maybe, but probably not. Selling a used or "vintage" furniture piece is not easy to do, and often the furniture will not command a high price. If that is your motivation, I would advise against the idea. With that said, some folks really enjoy the process and have developed a nice side hustle or a useful hobby. So, here's how to determine if refinishing furniture is for you.

If the piece of furniture under consideration is not going to fall apart or only needs minor repairs — and it is something that you or someone you care about will value and enjoy — the next step is deciding if you have a space to work in that will suffice. Refinishing is messy, period. Whether you are using a chemical stripper or primarily sanding the existing finish away, refinishing makes a mound of stuff to deal with. 

Even with a stripper, you will be doing a significant amount of sanding and creating dust that contains both wood and finish particles. You'll be wiping away sanding swarf and stripper residue. A garage is a great place for this work, but indoors is less good. Dust particles can clog air filters and easily migrate to other parts of the house. A driveway or patio is good as long as the weather is agreeable.

Some supplies you'll need are good dust masks, gloves, eye protection, a random orbit sander, mineral spirits, a box of shop towels, and a metal putty knife. Also useful: a sharp scraper, tarps or drop cloths to help control sawdust and other flotsam. Don't forget screwdrivers, hammers, and other tools to remove hardware off its base if required. A critical piece of refinishing equipment, in my opinion, is a shop vacuum of some sort. It does not need to be big or fancy, but you'll need it for clean-up and dust control. If you use your home vacuum, it will probably get ruined. It is not designed for this sort of job.

Although it will vary depending on the type of furniture piece that you're working on, the first thing to do is remove the hardware. I recommend putting the pieces into a resealable plastic bag so you don't lose them. (Please don't me ask me how I know this.) Next, see if there are some parts of the piece that would be easy to remove — a tabletop or a shelf — as these are easier to work with. Now decide if you are going to remove the finish primarily with a sander or stripper. I prefer sanding, but you'll almost always need to use both as sanding details like beading, dentil molding, or fluting is tedious. Plus, you can deform those details with sandpaper if you aren't careful. Modern strippers are not as nasty as they were, but you will need protective gloves and eye protection.

I start off the sanding with 80-grit sandpaper. It is coarse enough to quickly remove the finish. The goal here is to remove most of the existing finish layer, but not the wood below it. You'll want a remnant of the finish still there. Sand all the flat areas that are easy to get to with your RO sander. Move to 100-grit and carefully remove the rest of the finish. Then sand up through the grits to 220-grit. Next, address areas you couldn't sand. Curved areas can be sanded by hand, but for detailed areas, I recommend stripper followed with 0000-steel wool. Continue and repeat these steps until all the old finish is removed and the surface looks uniform.

First, you'll need to know if you're dealing with veneer. Veneer is a thin layer of solid wood often used on tabletops, doors, and cabinet sides. You can refinish a veneer tabletop with sanding, but it's easy to sand through the veneer to the substrate, which you should avoid. Solid wood furniture does not have this problem. You may find that there are chips or cracks in the veneer and will need to repair those with wood filler. The filler might not match the colors of the veneer, so fix that with spot staining or stain markers after you apply your finish coats. Note: don't color the filler until you have applied the first coat of finish. Then you can match it to the final hue of the surface. 

The last major step is applying a finish. There are scores of finishing options, including having a professional shop do the work. I am going to suggest some woodworker magic. If you are going to stain your piece, now is the time. I use a gel stain for refinishing, as it's easier to deal with blotching that might occur. 

My first "magic" finish choice is hard wax oil. It's great for DIYers. It is a wipe-on, wipe-off finish that delivers beautiful results. It's a low-sheen finish, however. Another option with a similar application method is gel polyurethane. Apply at least four coats, but remove the excess. Its advantage is it's a very durable finish and that you have more options for how shiny the final product will look. Then you'll have a professional-looking refinished piece of wooden furniture.