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Refinishing Problem

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  petemohr 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm refinishing and old (not antique) desk. The top is a nice, reasonably thick, mahogany veneer. The problem is that it was grain filled with white filler before it was sprayed with the usual thick toners to cover up that nice veneer.

I've stripped and sanded it but the white filler remains in the grain. I've tried applying stain and spraying a light coat of toner but nothing seems to stick to the white filler. I also tried removing it with a soft brass brush and some mineral spirits and lacquer thinner. Neither had any noticeable effect.

Any ideas how to "get the white out" or am I stuck with white specks in my desk top???

pete
 
#2 ·
Pete,

It's been a while for me, even when I was in the furniture biz, I did little stripping, but what you've got is going to take some elbow grease I fear. What kind of stripper did you use? An orange peel type, or something more aggressive like stripeez? You might try going back and using something like stripeez, let it sit a little longer than usual, then use a very stiff bristle brush to try and dig that white crud out. Also, you may have to use a staining dye to try and attack any remaining gunk. The disadvantge here being the piece may turn out darker than you want.

btw, How many spots are we talking about over how large an area? You could also pain stakingly paint/dab over every little spot with an appropriatly colored pigment.

Give Myron Wooley a holler too. He used to be in the biz and might have better insight than me.

Good luck!
 
#4 ·
Like you said, it seems like the answer is stripper and a soft brass brush to get into the pores followed up be refilling the grain with some dark mahogany toned filler. I was trying to avoid it but seems that's the only way to do it and have it look decent. Not my favorite part of woodworking.

Thanks for the reply - pete
 
#6 ·
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