COVID Has Allowed More Time for Home Projects. Here’s Mine
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
By Bill Primavera
Readers of this column have probably, like me, been spending a lot more time at home than before the outbreak of COVID-19 two years ago. While there have been few positive points and a lot of low ones as we’ve navigated the pandemic, I found myself with a lot more time on my hands than normal, time that could be spent catching up on promised tasks.
Just this past weekend, I was caught up on all my assignments and just itching for something to do around the house. More than just itching – starving.
As it happens, I focused in on an end table that had a few nasty scratches that needed attention, and I set out to refinish it, but in a quick and easy way.
It had been more than 30 years since I had refinished furniture, and in those days, I was a purist, insisting on the method of refinishing known as French polish, where the old surface would be stripped paint remover, and after being sanded, the surface grain would be “filled” with a material and sanded again with fine sandpaper to make it perfectly smooth.
Then, it would be coated with several coats of either shellac or varnish that required a long time to dry, again being sanded with fine sandpaper between each coat to remove imperfections and to create a better bond for the next coat.
After three coats, I would finish the surface with two layers of Butcher’s Wax, buffed to perfection. The process took forever to accomplish because of the drying time between each coat and also because of the sanding required to remove the imperfections caused by the brush and dust. Shellac can take up to 36 hours to dry and, if you do the math, a project of refinishing would take forever. Who wants to spend that kind of time anymore?
With this method, a small tabletop could take me a couple of weeks of part-time effort to accomplish. I don’t have that kind of patience anymore, getting older as I am, so my first decision was to think about whether I wanted to make that leap to use polyurethane for a surface.
Let me explain the difference. Polyurethane is a thermoplastic that combines the best features of plastic and rubber. It has gained popularity due to its ability to form a thicker and stronger film than coatings like varnish and shellac. It requires less coats, time and effort. Oil-based polyurethane typically dries in 24 hours, while water-based polyurethane takes six or less. I’ll take the water-based, thank you.
This time around, devoid of any materials needed, I marched myself down to Home Depot and bought a small arsenal of products for an afternoon’s pleasurable pursuit. I picked up a pint of paint remover; a half-pint of Minwax Wood Finish in Colonial Maple; a half-pint of water-based, fast-drying polyurethane; two sandpaper blocks, one medium grade and one fine; a cheap two-inch brush to apply the stripper; and a good one-and-a-half-inch brush to apply the polyurethane. In one small bag, I was a weekend project warrior.
At home, I spread an old sheet on the floor, and with my cheap brush, covered the table top, legs and drawer front with the stripper, let it do its thing for just 15 minutes, then wiped it off with old rags.
After sanding with first the medium-grade sanding paper, then the smooth, I stained the wood with Minwax and let it dry for an hour. Then I simply applied the polyurethane and, after less than four hours, I found that it was completely dry. With the fine sandpaper block, I rubbed down the imperfections, which did a pretty good job on all the flat surfaces. For the turns on the legs, I used fine steel wool.
The end product looked so good that I thought I could be ready for the finishing wax coat, but I realized that I had forgotten to buy Butcher’s Wax. However, did I tell you my favorite secret weapon around the house for repairing scratches is also a wonderful final refinishing coat, too? That is Kiwi Shoe Polish! I lathered on brown wax in two coats, and the results were deep and luxurious.
Now I have a very sweet, shiny end table with an all but impervious surface. But more than that, I’ve enjoyed an almost Zen-like, lazy afternoon exercise that scratched a long-held itch to do a project around the house once again.
Bill Primavera is a realtor associated with William Raveis Real Estate and founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc., the longest-running public relations agency in Westchester (www.PrimaveraPR.com), specializing in lifestyles, real estate and development. To engage the services of The Home Guru and his team to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.
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