How to refinish a damaged spot on a wood dining room table?

Question

My daughter spilled some acetone on our wood dining room table, trying to remove her fake finger nails. Just a spot of the top finish is damaged. Do I have to refinish the entire top of the table, or can I just touch up the spot? I don't know if the finish is Polyurethane, or lacquer. How would I proceed to repair this?

Answer 1

if you don't know what the original finish is you might want to refinish the entire table

Answer 2

If you can afford fake fingernails for your daughter to try to remove on your dining room table with acetone, I would suggest that you contact a professional furniture refinisher to determine the best way to fix your problem, since lacquer has not been widely used as a furniture finish for many years, due to the high amount of VOC's in lacquer.

Answer 3

If it is a factory finish, it's 99% chance of being lacquer.  No production furniture factory uses polyurethane.  Can you just touch up the spot?  I don't know.  I can.  If it's at all large, you will be ahead to bite the bullet and teach your daughter how to strip and refinish.  Then she will not use nail polish remover on the dining table ever again.