HELP, STICKEY FINGERS

[vesta111]

I NEED HELP FROM YOU MALES THAT WILL NOT LAUGH OR CALL ME A DING BAT.

I pulled out an old table that I wanted to exchange for another in the house and the top was a mess.

Wood of some kind but stained and yuckie looking.  I used an SOS pad on the top and got rid of the stains but the wood still had no glow to it. 

I tried spray Pledge but with lots of buffering it still looked old and worn.    I went a looking under the sink and found a small can of Polly wax and stain--one step that had to be 15 years old.--never opened.

So I spent a couple hours shaking the can up, from time to time and then poured it on and buffed it with a old kitchen towel. 

It looked great and I left to take a shower. When I came back the table was alive, hair, one of my Maine Coon Cats had jumped up and left enough hair to make someone a warm winter hat.

My beautiful table top now looks like something from a Sifi movie, to make matters worse my shower did not remove all the stain and air born hair is now sticking to my hands ----I look like a Wear Wolfe in the  making.

My question is what do I do now to get this stuff off me,  Asatone nail polish remover  does not work .Now do I have to sand down my table and go back to step one????

[Chris_]

I use liquid soap with pumice for washing up.  It's in orange bottles and gets sold at the auto parts store as GoJo.  I've had the same gallon dispenser for almost a decade and it never fails.

[Eupher]

Once you've got the fur off your hands, let the tabletop completely dry - Overnight, if possible.

Then borrow a belt sander.

Start out by using medium grit paper, attempt to LIGHTLY sand the tabletop down till all that stuff is off and you're down to bare wood.

Sand by hand using a finer grit, steel wool the surface, clean with denatured alcohol, and stain the top to the desired color.

A couple-three coats of polyurethane with a light sanding in between each coat except the last, and you're back in business.

[vesta111]

Once you've got the fur off your hands, let the tabletop completely dry - Overnight, if possible.

Then borrow a belt sander.

Start out by using medium grit paper, attempt to LIGHTLY sand the tabletop down till all that stuff is off and you're down to bare wood.

Sand by hand using a finer grit, steel wool the surface, clean with denatured alcohol, and stain the top to the desired color.

A couple-three coats of polyurethane with a light sanding in between each coat except the last, and you're back in business.

Yippie, I  have a belt sander--  some where  under piles of stuff in the shead.

Medium grit paper I know we have somewhere.

So now I hand sand down the top and apply the polly and then hand sand it down, apply another coat and repeat and finally coat the top with the poly.

Have I got this correct , have I missed any steps ????

Oh whats with the denatured alchol, what does that do ???

[Eupher]

Yippie, I  have a belt sander--  some where  under piles of stuff in the shead.

Medium grit paper I know we have somewhere.

So now I hand sand down the top and apply the polly and then hand sand it down, apply another coat and repeat and finally coat the top with the poly.

Have I got this correct , have I missed any steps ????

Oh whats with the denatured alchol, what does that do ???

Uh....vesta?

You do realize that a belt sander requires sandpaper....in a belt? (You'll need some of the flat stuff, but it sounds to me like you might have to buy some belt sander sandpaper in at least medium and fine grits.)

Use the belt sander and do your "Heavy Work" with it and your medium grit belt sander sandpaper. Use the machine and sand with the grain of the wood, not against it. Be careful with the damned thing, because it can get out of control in a hurry. Work slowly and carefully. Get your tabletop down to the bare wood removing any gouges. The main thing here is not to remove too much material. Just enough.

When you're done with that, NOW pull out your flat sandpaper and a block of wood and hand sand the tabletop, using a fine grit, working with the grain. When you've got that like you want it, STOP.

Clean off the wood dust off the tabletop, and get out a clean rag and some denatured alcohol. The DA is a cleaning agent and it preps the wood to accept a wood stain of your choice and color. All you have to do is put some rubber gloves on, soak the rag in DA, and rub the wood with the grain a few times.

Next, take your stain of choice and color and again using rubber gloves and a clean rag or disposable brush, apply the stain to the tabletop with the grain. Apply evenly. Let set to the degree of "dark" that you want, then wipe the stain off using another clean rag. Reapply the stain, if necessary (if it isn't dark enough for you or if you have some uneven spots).

When the stain is the way you want it, then get yourself a can of polyurethane or some other sealing agent (shellac works well too) and apply a thin, even coat. Let dry, light sand using fine sandpaper. Apply a second coat, let dry, light sand. Then apply a third coat.

Voila!