Saturday, December 9, 2006

Cleaning and Quick Exterior Furniture Refinish

Today was a clean-up day in preparation of moving a bunch of stuff from storage, none of it light, to the garage. The house came with an older Toughshed, but in the move and popcorn ceiling, removal things where just put in randomly.

It wasn't all for nothing. Cleaning allowed me to take an mental inventory of what I had and what came with the house. The previous owner had done a remodel to the master bath, and had purchased extra tile. I also took a close look at the finishes I had accumulated either through past projects or close-out specials. A little side note, there was a time I was doing a lot of research and experimenting with various finishes for woodworking. The result of this was lets just say .. leftovers.

I happen to find part of a spray can of gloss spar-var, and move an older outside table in bad need of a new finish on the table top. These are the steps I did to do a quick refinish on the table top:
  • I set about washing down the piece and cleaning it abit with a brass wire brush
  • Letting it dry while continuing to clean in a different area. I didn't feel like cleaning it again so I made sure the piece was away from where I was working.
  • Once it was dry, I did a quick knock down of the fibers that were raised by the water and wire brush with some 180 grit sandpaper. I used 180 grit because the surface was relatively smooth from the previous finish.
  • Next, I tacked the piece to remove any dust from sanding with a slightly damp shop blue paper towel.
  • When applying the spray finish I held the can about 4-6" away from the surface, and tried to spray in a consistent sweeping motion. I did this repeatedly from different angles to make sure complete coverage.
  • Once sprayed, I let it dry overnight in the shed to make sure no debris was blown on it by the wind.
  • There's enough finish in the can for another coat. Tomorrow I'll do a light sanding with either 180 or 220 grit sandpaper, tack it and spray one more coat.

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