Had the WORST Saturday of my whole six years of refinishing furniture

Last Saturday I was sanding down a 1950s dresser I found at a thrift store in Portland for $40. I got too aggressive with the orbital sander and went THROUGH the veneer, ruined this beautiful walnut pattern on the top. Then I went to stain a matching nightstand I'd prepped, knocked over the can of Minwax Dark Walnut, and it spilled all over my garage floor and soaked into a crack. Has anyone else managed to destroy two projects in one single day or was that just my special talent?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_walker623d ago

Those veneers are tricky, man. Over sanding is the easiest mistake to make. What worked for me after doing the exact same thing was to stop sanding by hand that day and just let it sit. Came back the next day and used a card scraper instead of the orbital on the curved spots. Also started keeping my stain cans in a plastic tray with a lip around it after I tipped one over. Took me a whole day to clean up that mess from the garage floor. Sticky concrete is no joke.

sethr113d ago

Man, wait... a whole gallon of Minwax? That's brutal. I've tipped over a quart before and that was bad enough, the way it just... spreads everywhere before you can even react. But a whole can soaking into a crack in the concrete... that stain is probably gonna leech back up every time it rains for the next five years. Your garage floor is gonna have a permanent dark walnut map of Oregon or something...