apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think the natural wood is very beautiful and a clear coat of poly will bring out it's color. No stain necessary. :)

Gregory--fantastic, the piece looks infinitely better already. Keep pushing that sandpaper grade higher and higher on your subsequent passes. Mike and I lacquered a couple of end tables thinking we had gone high enough but once the paint went on it revealed a multitude of scratchy swirls. D'oh!

Here's a quick guide:
40-60 Coarse Heavy sanding and stripping, roughing up the surface.
80-120 Medium Smoothing of the surface, removing smaller imperfections and marks.
150-180 Fine Final sanding pass before finishing the wood
220-240 Very Fine Sanding between coats of stain or sealer.
280-320 Extra Fine Removing dust spots or marks between finish coats
360-600 Super Fine Fine sanding of the finish to remove some luster or surface blemishes and scratches.

Wow, impressive.

That looks fantastic! Keep going, I can't wait to see the finished product!

I don't know what kind of wood that is -- teak? But, I actually did a remarkably similar job on a teak coffee table in November.

A couple of coats of mineral oil will bring out the natural beauty of the wood and will make it look gorgeous. An added benefit is that, unlike stain, if in the future you get a watermark or other imperfection that you want to remove, you can lightly sand it out, hit the effected area with some more mineral oil and not have to worry about overlapping with stain.

I meant not have to worry about overlapping, like one has to do with stain.

Just to clarify, I am thinking of staining the piece to closer match and compliment the other rosewood stereo cabinet we have. But I love all this advice and insight you're giving me, since this is the first time I've tried to refinish something large like this. Thanks everyone!

I guess I need a sander--because I've been refinishing a piece by hand and it's killing me!

Christine - oh my! Life's too short for that! You can get a name-brand palm sander for $30 at Home Depot.

WOW. that looks AWESOME.

Chris, thank you for the advice!

Christine, if you get a sander, practice with it on some scrap wood first, and then wipe the wood with rubbing alcohol or paint thinner, to see how smoothly you sanded. ChrisToronto is right, with an orbital you have to be very careful you're not leaving swirl marks. I personally prefer to strip or use Peel-Away to take off paint, and then hand-sand.

Gregory, I can't see any water damage, but I can see a hint of the grain. It's going to look beautiful!

Hey all. Good advice. I'll add to the mix -- Swirl marks can still be seen even if you use ultra-fine grit. Very often the real culprit is moving the orbital sander too fast across the workpiece, which will leave the dreaded swirlies. And the worst part is they may be more or less invisible UNTIL you put a coat of finish on it.
I'm a professional furniture maker, and I rarely sand finer than 220 grit. The most important thing is to make sure you sand thoroughly with each grit, removing the swirls left from the rougher one. Good luck!!

Its looking awesome! I love doing projects like this. Do you find it hard doing this kind of restoration out of your apartment? I live in a small apartment near Boston and limit my projects to nice weather in the warm months :-( I can't wait to see how you finish it.

Dammit, that's going to be beautiful!