Finishing Your Pine Furniture
A piece of unfinished pine furniture – whether you’ve bought it or made it – is a lovely project to tackle at home. Pine is a wonderful wood to work with and the finishing possibilities are almost endless. Although it can be quite hard work, the results are always satisfying.
The challenge, however, is to find the finishing the suits you the best and to make it work on the piece of furniture to your best advantage. You also have to take great care in applying the finish so that it isn’t spoilt and you have to sand it down and re-start the project.
The first – and probably the most critical step is to sand down the pine furniture properly. If you’re making the furniture you can do this throughout the project. If you’ve bought an unfinished piece, you will have to sand it down altogether. This is important as rough spots won’t take the stain properly and you’ll end up with a blotchy piece of furniture. Because pine is such a lovely, soft wood, it is recommended that you use 120-grit sandpaper. Once you’ve completed the sanding it is important to clear away the dust with a tack cloth or a vacuum cleaner. Any dust left could settle on your newly stained pine furniture and spoil the effect.
The next step is to seal and damp proof the furniture. Sealing the wood will help to minimize or even prevent the wood from absorbing the stain that you apply unevenly. Once sealed, you can start applying the stain to the wood. Here a gel stain is recommended as it doesn’t run and is absorbed easily.
In order to control the absorption of the stain and to prevent it from bleeding too much, wipe the stain on and then wipe the stain off immediately. Work in small patches and always allow the wood to dry before applying the next layer. Apply as many layers as you need to achieve the look that you want. Just don’t leave blobs of stain on the surface as it will create a film on the surface that is very difficult to get rid of.
Once finished you can apply a thin layer of satin varnish which gives it a protective top coat, but also gives your furniture a beautiful, rounded off and professional look. Should you find any rough spots or edges after completing the staining and top coat, gently sand it off with a very fine sandpaper.
Another way of finishing your pine furniture is by painting it. Once again, make sure that the furniture is properly sealed before putting on the colour of your preference. There are a myriad of colours to choose from and all of them are suitable for use on pine furniture.
After completing the project, you cab bow sit back and appreciate the thing of beauty that you have created.