Ways of Finishing Your Unfinished Oak Furniture

Oak is marvellous for furniture with all its strengths of hardness, toughness and water resistance it is hard to bypass. But its grain makes it truly spectacular. The grain is tight and open, it takes color well and when quarter sawn and the silvery medulary rays are prominent it is hard to beat for appeal. Unfinished oak furniture allow you to control the end result of the item you will be finishing. Unfinished furniture gives you the choice of shade, the method of finishing and the pleasure of creating a unique piece of furniture. Unfinished furniture is available at a much lower price, and the work required should not take more than a weekend for an average chest of drawers to complete.

Any furniture can be found as unfinished - mission oak furniture, oak dining furniture, oak bedroom furniture. You can choose from large pieces of furniture to small pieces. It is often a good idea to practise the skills required and to see if you have the patience for the job before investing in large pieces of unfinished furniture.

Before You Start

What do you want the furniture to look like finished? In other words what kind of finish would you like on your item? There are a number of choices, but the most common would be a waxes finish or a lacquered(sealed or varnished) finish. Both of these finishes are applied over any coloring that you may choose. The reason for deciding this first is it will effect some of the other steps to take. A waxed finish will allow the color of the oak to mellow with age naturally. It will also need to be regularly waxed to maintain good conditioning of the timber. A lacquered finish will seal the timber and it will lock the color and moisture into the timber. This finish will help protect the timber against damage from staining (whilst oak is water resistant it is also good at picking up stains).

Once you have decided on the finish the next step is color

Shades

Will you color the furniture? Or leave it natural? There are a great variety of shade around and many more can be made by mixing and matching until you find a shade you are happy with. Which kind of oak do you have? White oak will accept more stain than red oak, so you will need more stain for white oak. Similarly quarter sawn oak- being across the grain will absorb more stain than timber cut along the grain. Be sure to get enough to complete the project in one sitting.

Preparation

Always make sure you have everything you need to hand before you start - it is often said and not often listened to, but this is the best piece of advice given! In finishing furniture preparation of the surface is the most important step. Take you time over this and get it well done for perfection. This is where sanding comes in and it can be tedious, but it so important to get it right. Sanding is just the process of making the surface of the timber smooth for touching and staining. A good sanding will make the overall appearance of the finished furniture beautiful. There are two step in sanding - preparation sanding and final sanding. Preparation sanding is the initial sanding and can be with power tools, final sanding is that the final step and is best done by hand lightly. Sanding should always be performed using smaller and smaller grades of sandpaper. For oak it is suggested that sanding should begin with no larger than #120 grit and end with no finer than #180grit. Over sanding will make it difficult for the stain to penetrate the timber. End grains may need more sanding than along the grain, the sanding will help to keep the timber absorption of color constant. For oak is you wipe the surface with a moist cloth and leave to dry for half an hour before the final sanding you will end up withe a silkier finish to the wood.

Staining

When you have sanded to a finish you are happy with - nice and smooth, it is time to apply and color to the timber. You may choose to bypass this step and let the oak furniture age naturally or maintain its natural color.

Always make sure the furniture is clean and free from any dust, oils of dirt, before applying any stains.

Thoroughly mix the stain to ensure the color is thoroughly mixed and even. Do this every time you open the can.

If you have an oil based stain you will have more time to work the stain than a water based stain. So make sure you know how long you have to apply the stain. Using a lint free cloth apply generous amounts of stain, to have plenty to work with, along the direction of the grain. Always wipe the excess off long the grain and be consistent to get an even color. Extra coats will make the shade darker.

Top Coat

The final finishing can be applied once the stain (if used) is dry. This is usually oil, wax or lacquer. The lacquer is generally applied in a number of coats with a light hand sand in between coats to get a good finish. Wax is rubbed into the furniture along the grain and buffed to a lovely shine.

However you choose to finish your unfinshed oak furniture it will be a pleasure to see the result of your efforts for many years to come.