Let’s Refinish the Antique Buffet!

In case you missed the dining table bleaching & refinishing post, you can find it here! Our dining table & buffet used to belong to mom & dad. It was our family’s dining set in my childhood days. If I recall correctly, mom said they were stored in a barn when they were given to them. Mom estimated the set was about 100 years old when they got it. When I got married, I inherited the table, chairs, and buffet. I say ‘inherited’, but they gave it to us because they bought a new dining set. The table had 6 chairs, 2 captain’s chairs (chairs with arms), and 4 regular chairs. Since we were moving out of state when she gave the set to us and because some of the chairs needed repairing, we chose to take just 2 of the regular chairs with us. When we moved back, we stored those 2 chairs with the others that mom had been storing for us.

Buffet history

Mom & dad used the set for about 25 years. When they got the table & buffet, they had been dyed black with what I was told was India Ink. I was also told that since different woods were used to make furniture ‘back in the day’, the pieces were dyed so they could be sold as a matching set. When I was a teen, mom decided to paint the set with the new ‘antiquing’ technique. The base paint color was a light red that was then covered with an antiquing medium.

Over the past 40+ years that the set (with the exception of the chairs which mom is still storing) has been in my possession, they have been moved from California to Oklahoma, Oklahoma to Florida, Florida back to California, and California to Idaho where it was been moved to 4 different houses. Needless to say, this set has been around!

When we moved back to California a little over 40 years ago, we decided to refinish the table & buffet. The paint came off easily but we were having a hard time removing the ink so we paid a professional $100 – which was a lot in 1978 – to dip the two pieces to remove the finish. With the finish removed, we could see the different types & colors of the wood. The tabletop was red oak; I’m not sure what the legs and skirting were made of, and the buffet was white oak with red oak on the side panels. We chose to use an oak stain on the buffet and a dark walnut stain on the table. This meant that the two were no longer matching but at age 20, that didn’t bother me.

Time to refinish

Before refinishing the buffet, I tackled the damage on the dining table. When we first got the table, I covered it with a tablecloth but for the last several years, I have left it bare so we could enjoy the wood. Last year, I took a good look at the finish and realized that it really needed to be refinished! There were scratches, paint, indentions from a Stryrograph from when the now-grown kids were small. Yes, it was time to refinish the table! For all the details on how our table went from worn, scratched, and dark brown to looking new & light brown, click here.

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Step 1 – repairs

I thought that maybe we had stained the buffet when we refinished it so many years ago so I hoped that when I sanded it, the wood would be closer to the new color of the tabletop. Since I was anxious to find out, I removed one drawer, took it to the garage, and gave it a good sanding. I was thrilled that the bare wood looked so close to the color of the tabletop! Until that is when I wet the wood that is. The golden oak color was still there – drat!

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I decided that if I wanted them to look more alike, I would need to bleach the buffet also. After unloading the buffet, I removed the hardware and the doors then carried the drawers and doors to the garage. Hubby and I then carried the buffet to the garage. The first step for the buffet was to repair a couple of drawers, shore up the board for the bottom drawer, and patch a few areas of the veneer on the top of the buffet. The facia board on the top drawer has been loose for AGES! It was good to finally be getting around to repairing it. Using wood glue, I pulled the front of the drawer away from the bottom board, applied some wood glue then clamped the two pieces together until the glue dried. Before the glue was dry, I cleaned off the excess glue. The middle drawer front also needed gluing – I didn’t capture of picture of this drawer but used the same process that I took with the top drawer.

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While the glue was drying on both drawers, I turned my attention to the buffet. The piece of wood the sits under the bottom drawer was really cracked but still functioned well. In the pictures below, you can see where light was shining through the board. I considered replacing the wood but decided against it because I want to preserve as much of the original wood as possible. Using two pieces of 1″ board that I had from another project and a few screws, I attached them to each side of the cracked board to provide stability. This was a quick fix and will provide a lot of strength to the cracked board.

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The last area that needed repairing was the veneer on the top of the buffet (*I did this after sanding off the finish & bleaching the wood). The veneer on the right back corner had lifted. Grabbing my wood glue again, I squeezed some between the veneer & the wood beneath it. I covered the veneer with a piece of Glad Press & Seal, clamped a board on top of it then added some weight with a battery. While that area was drying, I used Elmer’s Wood Filler in Natural to patch several areas where the veneer was missing. I applied the filler with a putty knife, filling the holes, and smoothed it out. After the filler dried, I gently sanded the area. I used the Natural color because I didn’t know what color the buffet would be once I applied the sealer.

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Step 2 – Sanding the buffet

Using my orbital sander & 120 grit sandpaper, I removed the finish from the drawers, the border of the doors, and the buffet. For the interior of the doors and the corners on the side panels of the buffet, I used a sanding block. For the decorative pieces on the doors at the trim on the top of the buffet, I used Citristrip. After letting the stripper sit for about an hour, I used steel wool dipped in mineral spirits to remove it from the decorative pieces.

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Step 3 – Bleaching the wood

After the sanding was done, I took all the pieces of the buffet outside to do the bleaching process in the sun and fresh air.

The process of using the DIY bleaching technique is to prepare the ingredients, apply the solution, rinse wood. Below are the directions from the website I used along with notes on what I did differently. The link to the original directions is here.

• Important: When handling or working with lye, you should always wear gloves and eye protection. Also, never pour water into the lye and don’t pour a bunch of lye into the water at one time.
  • Fill a plastic container with 1 qt of water. It’s important that you use plastic and not metal. And if you are doing a lot of wood, you might want to make a gallon
    • I made smaller batches, using 2 cups water & 1/2 the amount of lye
  • Slowly add 3 tablespoons of lye to the water, stirring the water slowly between each tablespoon
  • Once the lye solution is made and ready to go, set it aside and pour the hydrogen peroxide on the red oak
    • I used a foam brush to apply the hydrogen peroxide on areas that were not flat
  • Spread it with a foam brush to make sure the entire surface is covered
  • Using a foam brush, spread on the lye solution thoroughly over the entire surface
  • Let dry completely – it’s helpful if you can do this process in the sun
  • After the wood has completely dried, using water, rinse the surface of the wood and wipe it dry with a towel. If you are outside, the sun will dry it.
    • I used a mixture of 1/2 water & 1/2 vinegar
  • Then let it completely dry again
  • You can repeat steps 2 – 4 until you are happy with the color

Here are pictures of the tabletop during the bleaching process

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Step 4 – Painting the hardware

While I considered buying all new hardware, I also wanted to keep the hardware we’ve used for so many years. Instead of replacing it, I decided to paint the metal parts that were antique brass. I used flat black spray paint then accented each piece with a bit of copper craft paint.

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Step 5 – Sealing the wood

The last step before attaching the doors to the buffet is to seal the wood. To seal the wood, using a 1 1/2″ angled paintbrush I applied 3 coats of Minwax water-based polyurethane in satin to the doors, drawers, and base of the buffet. I allowed 4 hours between coats for drying time. For the buffet top, I used oil-based Minwax Spar Urethane in satin. I applied 3 coats using a 2 1/2″ paintbrush. Between coats 1 & 2, I allowed a drying time of 4 hrs. I allowed the 2nd coat to cure overnight before applying the last coat. Also, between each coat of either the water-based or oil-based sealers, I lightly sanded the surface using a 220 grit sanding block. Once the last coat had been applied, to help reduce the oil-based sealer fumes, I left the buffet in the garage for 2 days.

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Finished project

When I started refinishing the buffet, I didn’t know what color the wood would become once the project was done. While the buffet was still in the garage, it still looked very golden but even though the wood didn’t lighten like I thought it would, it does blend better with the table than before it was refinished.

Hubby and I are enjoying this new, lighter color! I’m so happy that the water damage is gone from the buffet, the deep scratches & bits of craft paint are gone from the table but the character from years of use remains on both pieces.

Supplies Used

• Orbital sander
• 120, 150, 220 grit sandpaper
• CitriStrip
• Minwax water-based polyurethane
• Minwax oil-based Spar Urethane
• 1 1/2″ & 2 1/2″ paintbrushes
• Foam paintbrushes
• Lye
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Vinegar & water
• N95 mask
• Goggles
• Gloves
• Tack cloth
• Steel Wool
• Mineral Spirits

Instructions

• Remove finish
  • With sander & 120/150 grit sandpaper
    • and/or
  • CitriStrip
• Remove CitriStrip with steel wool dipped in mineral spirits
• Once wood is dry, sand with 220 grit
• Remove sawdust with soft cloth then tack cloth
• Bleach wood by applying
  • Hydrogen Peroxide using a foam brush
    • then
  • Lye mixture
    • Allow to dry in the sun
• Reapply bleaching solution until desired color is acheived
• Rinse wood with water or water/vinegar mix
  • Allow to dry in the sun
• Once wood is thoroughly dry, sand with 220 grit
• Remove sawdust with soft cloth then tack cloth
• Apply two to three coats of spar urethane to tabletop
• Apply two to three coats of water-based polyurethane to skirting & legs
• Attach doors & decorative piece on top

For your convenience

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