Varnishing an old pine table

Morning all, I'd appreciate some advice about an old 6' by 3' pine kitchen table I have. It was originally waxed and when we moved we wanted to varnish the table top to (try to) match the worktops we have in our new kitchen. I removed as much of the wax as I could, using a Colron wax remover and some fine steel wool. I then varnished it with ronseal diamond. The problem is that the finished surface is very "plasticy" and is not at all hard to chip - clearly, the surface prep I did wasn't good enough.

Rather belatedly, therefore, I am considering

1. taking the table top off and having it planed down (it's 1 and 3/4 inches thick, so you could easily skim a fair bit off it) or,
2. sanding the top to remove the varnish and the top layer of waxed timber, or
3. chemically removing the varnish and starting again with the wax remover

I'd appreciate any guidance and, if it's no 1, some idea where I might get the planing done (I'm in Co Louth)

Many thanks (and happy new year!!)

jack of all

Planing seems a bit drastic, unless you want a "new" look top? If it were me I'd use a chemical varnish/ paint remover and strip the lot back to bare wood, shouldn't take long with a plain flat surface. Brush on the remover and drape the top with cling film (stops the stripper from drying out and improves its effectiveness). Gently scrape off the finish and use plenty of nylon scrubs or steel wool to remove the bulk of gunk. Neutralize the stripper with white spirit and you can then sand or scrape down the top. I'd use something like a Wodoc product for refinishing, they do a couple of penetrating polyurethane finishes that would be good for this job. Apply plenty of coats, denibbing gently between coats. finish with one of their penetrating waxes. Labour intensive but should give you a good finish.

S.L.F

jack of all wrote: »

Planing seems a bit drastic, unless you want a "new" look top? If it were me I'd use a chemical varnish/ paint remover and strip the lot back to bare wood, shouldn't take long with a plain flat surface. Brush on the remover and drape the top with cling film (stops the stripper from drying out and improves its effectiveness). Gently scrape off the finish and use plenty of nylon scrubs or steel wool to remove the bulk of gunk. Neutralize the stripper with white spirit and you can then sand or scrape down the top. I'd use something like a Wodoc product for refinishing, they do a couple of penetrating polyurethane finishes that would be good for this job. Apply plenty of coats, denibbing gently between coats. finish with one of their penetrating waxes. Labour intensive but should give you a good finish.

I'd do most of this too.

Use Nitromorse and a wire brush to clean the old finish off then once you have the main stuff off then use the stripper with a pot scrubber (metal) to get the remainer off, after you have completed this wash it down with soapy water and the pot scrubber again, let it dry (shouldn't take too long) give it a very light sanding (grade 100-140) the I'd give it about 3 coats of Danish oil then 2 coats of heat resistant oil based matt varnish.

The first 2 coats of Danish oil should be heavy ones, buff sand after the second one then put a very light coat on with a clothe buff again then apply a coat of varnish buff then second coat of varnish.

The cleaning down should take about 3 hours

Many thanks for these replies - I will let you know how I get on (on my second attempt - should have done it right first time!)