by croberts

Created on: March 13, 2007   Last Updated: December 08, 2011

1: First know that if you are doing this for the first time that you can't make it worse (you wouldn't be thinking of doing it otherwise)

2: Your local Wal-mart or hardware store will have what you need to do this and it is easy enough.

3: Pick your stain, remember it is easier to take a light stain and make it dark, much harder to take a dark stain and make it light.

4: You will need sand paper, p60, p220 and p150. TIP: foam sanding blocks work great, also a hand sander is nice but not required.

5: A good paint brush, horse hair is nice. rags and plastic drop cloth.

6: I like the polycrylic that is water based clean up in satin, but there are semi- gloss and some that are tinted.

7: Face mask and eye protection

You should be able to get everything for less than 30.00 dollars

Now in a well vented area (I do mine outside,) take apart your piece of furniture.
Take one piece and start to sand going in the direction of the wood grain. You always sand in the direction of the grain to keep the wood from becoming marked. You should be using the p60 sand paper at this time.

After sanding down all pieces with the p60 dust off and sand with p150 sand paper to smooth the wood. Do not sand hard or deep you only want to remove the acriylic and stain not the wood. Now you will wipe it all down with a damp rag removing all dust. Set aside to dry, now spread out plastic drop cloth, get your stain, paint brush and rags.

Staining is easy and not too long to do, sanding was the hardest. Take it one piece at a time, dip paint brush in stain and brush on liberally to wood. Cover completely and let set for 15 minutes. Now grab a rag and wipe away excess stain working it into areas that are lighter than others. When done set aside for two hours then repeat process again. Let set for another two hours, now if you chose to you can use a rag to apply the stain, for me this works better.

Next, you will stir the acrylic, do not shake. using the paint brush apply the acrylic to wood going in the direction of the wood. Make sure to apply even coats to all pieces. It is recommended that you apply three coats of acrylic to the wood. After first coat allow to dry for two hours, then lightly sand with 220 sand paper. Again, a foam sanding block in the correct grade works great. Repeat process two more times. Let dry for 24 hours then reassemble furniture. You're done and it looks great!

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