Refinishing Wood

Have you ever Refinished a piece of wood furniture?

Well, if you haven't, here are a couple of tips that I learned on my recent adventure...

1.) Get the right kind wood stripper. I tried two different kinds. After the first one didn't work, I decided to try another one. Believe me when I say that Citristrip is
WAY better than the others.

2.) Make sure you have warm weather. I was so anxious to get started that I started refinishing my bookshelf in 30 deg. weather. Didn't work. Make sure that it is above 50 deg. And just so you know, I found that if you have warm sun shinning on the Gel as it works, it works even better. So enjoy the Sun and have a party.

3.) It is really hard to get into the corners of bookshelves, etc. Make sure you have some toothpicks, skewers, or anything else small and sharp (but not too sharp as you don't want to scratch the wood).

4.) Use an electric sander. I did all of mine by hand. I could have had all the sanding done in 30 minutes if I had had one, but it took me a couple days instead.


Here was my first refinishing project:

Not too shabby!