Staining

We decided that, since this old piece of furniture had so many little cuts and ink stains, we'd stain it a darker color--walnut fit the bill--but before we stained it, there were a couple of places where the wood needed to be patched with wood filler. That's kind of a toss-up, because, not matter how much you buy real wood looking filler, and sand it into shape, it still looks like someone stuck a piece of old gum in the crack and filled it, but we still tried, thinking that from a distance it would look like a knot hole or something. Anyway, here's the sanded product. It's all ready for sealer and polyurethane.



Tomorrow:  The finished product

Sanding

 These two little friends make sanding much easier. They bump off paint flecks and actually smooth flaws. They reach into corners and nose their way into ridges...sanding, smoothing. They also tend to turn around and bite the unsuspecting wielder who doesn't keep a firm grip.

Next is Staining

Turning ugly old junk into useful furniture

Now isn't that a bright idea?
Last summer, when my dad needed to clear out a storage building, he asked all of us if we wanted any of the old furniture. I picked out a couple of pieces--one for sentimental value. (It was my daughter's little wardrobe and I thought I might could make a toy cabinet for my grandchildren) and the other because it looked like it would make a good "fly-tying cabinet" for my husband, whose blog name is Turtle, aka Turtle the Fearless.

Anyway, here's the cabinet with its three heavy coats of paint--green, black, and sunshine yellow. There's a kind of contact paper on the top and it's going to be a mess to scrape off, but underneath--ah there you can see real wood.

I hope it's salvageable, but for tying flies it really doesn't have to look like Ethan Allen. I'll have to replace the hardware, of course, although that wire handle does add a little charm of its own.

Here's a record of my daily progress:
Off with the Old
Elbow Grease 
Little by Little 
Sanding 
Staining 
Finally Finished Furniture