Bound For The Landfill?

This table probably would have ended up in the landfill if I hadn’t taken it home from the thrift store. It was in terrible condition and wasn’t a valuable table even if it was fully restored. But I could see that with some TLC it would be an attractive and useful table that was worth saving.

Scraping off the old finish

I started by scraping off the old finish. This was not too difficult as the finish was thin and brittle.

Sanding the top

Whatever finish was left after scraping, I removed with a sander. This also removed any of the red stain that was left in the wood.

Glueing a cracked leg

Once the sanding was done I got out the glue bottle. There were some cracks in the legs that needed to be fixed. I used my trusty glue syringe to inject some glue into the cracks. Once the glue was in there I just clamped it up till it dried.

Installing inlay

This table had a strip of inlay on just one side of the table. I decided to add inlay on all four sides. I was able to buy a strip of inlay that was similar to the original. Installing it was a matter of cutting a slot in the apron and then glueing it in.

Staining the aprons

Then it was time to stain the wood. I used a dye stain on this one. I made it myself by mixing some dye with water.

Glueing the table back together

Once the stain was dry I put the table back together and applied a few coats of wipe on polyurethane.

Check out the full video below to see the finished product. Thanks for watching!