Question about stripping and staining furniture?

Question

I have a set of nesting tables (not expensive or especially nice) which are stained a honey color and I'd like to use a very dark brown stain on them. We live in a flat and have no place to work outdoors, so I'd like to avoid using a chemical stripper. Can I just sand them down and re-stain them? Do I need to sand down to a bare finish? I'm pretty new at this, so any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Wear a mask when sanding. Also remember if they are not amazing quality the finish and colour will probably have been sprayed on in one go, so the colour and look may be very different when cleaned off .

The top may be vennered and this can be very very thin , so dont go too mad sanding.

Answer 2

Just sand it. It would be best if you had an electric sander for the flat parts and loose sandpaper to get around the legs. You have to get all of the finish off or you will have a very splotchy looking finished project. It is usually pretty surprising how quickly you can get the finish off with sandpaper. Once that is done, you get to apply or your stain and/or varnish.

Answer 3

Yes the right way is to strip it bare you can cover everthing thats in the room you plan on working in and open your window because it will get messy Have Fun Good Luck

Answer 4

depending on the condition of the top,eg,scratches,dents. you should be able to just give it a light rub down all over, you can either use a paint brush or a piece off clean rag, have some practice underneath the table top first,because you dont wont to put to much stain on, youll have to experiment on the darkness of stain,buy a cheap drop sheet,you should be alright with the windows and door open or youll have to use a fan, read the instructions on can you might have to buy turps for cleaning the brush, do the top in one go,you dont wont to get halfway though and stop and let it dry,hope this helps, its so difficult trying to put it in to words.actually you should be able to go to your local libary and get books out on staining DIY