Refinishing a 'sticky' jarrah table top

[scottbr]

Hi all,
A mate of mine has a jarrah dining table. It's about 10 years old.

He bought it and finished it years ago with a 'natural oil finish'. The name of the product is long forgotten.

The table top is sticky. A book left on it for a while will sort of stick. Sitting at the table, your forearms will stick. It sort of feels clammy. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Any idea what would be the best thing to use to try and wipe off the surface of what's there? Turps? Metho? Acetone? Thinners? ????

When we've got the stickiness off, I'm thinking of buffing it with my trusty Rotex 150 with a fine paper and a 50/50 mix of linseed and turps and then wiping with O'Cedar. ( Feel free to me if that plan is dopey.)

Thanks,

Scott

[Master Splinter]

Wipe off with paint thinner from Supacheap Auto would be my advice, followed by re-oiling with maybe a tung oil finish. I don't think the O'Cedar is supposed to be a finish in itself.

[old pete]

Hi Scott,

That's a tricky one. You could get most of the gunk up with a solvent, refinish and then find it goes gunky again with your new proposed oil based finish. I'd try to remove as much of the gunk as possible starting with acetone then thinners and then turps if those first two haven't worked. The key to re-finishing will depend on whether or not the surface has been blessed with numerous coats of silicone based wax over time. If that's the case and you need a sustainable finish then sand the cleaned surface all off until no visible sign of the initial coating remains. Apply by spray two wash coats of blond shellac and then two coats of 40% shine two pack clear lacquer de-nibbing between coats as required. I think that will have a fair chance of success but I wouldn't give warranty on it if silicone has been used. That's the most insidious anti finish material ever invented.

God luck, Old Pete

[scottbr]

Done.

Went round this morning at 10am.

I reckon the top had a poly - or something like that - finish and my mate put oil over the top.

We attacked it with thinners and turps and then sanded it a bit - being a lazy Sunday I wasn't keen on taking it right back and creating too much work.

I then used the turps/linseed mix and a 320 paper.

Then buffed it with the 2000 pad that came with the Rotex.

Then used some furniture polish.

Looks great. Feels great. Hopefully it's done.

We were having a beer by 1pm and telling ourselves we're very clever.


If it goes sticky again I'll have to bite the bullet and sand it right back to bare wood and do a proper job.

[old pete]

Well Scottybr it surely doesn't matter how you get to a good outcome if you get there and I guess the quicker and cheaper you get there the better. I look forward to a report on the success of the venture in say 3 months time please.. Cheers Old Pete

Done.

Went round this morning at 10am.

I reckon the top had a poly - or something like that - finish and my mate put oil over the top.

We attacked it with thinners and turps and then sanded it a bit - being a lazy Sunday I wasn't keen on taking it right back and creating too much work.

I then used the turps/linseed mix and a 320 paper.

Then buffed it with the 2000 pad that came with the Rotex.

Then used some furniture polish.

Looks great. Feels great. Hopefully it's done.

We were having a beer by 1pm and telling ourselves we're very clever.


If it goes sticky again I'll have to bite the bullet and sand it right back to bare wood and do a proper job.

[scottbr]

Yes Pete, I'd say 3 months is an adequate test.

The table's owner is happy. More importantly, his wife is, too. She arrived home to find us sitting in the shade having a beer and was dubious of our efforts.

I told him to keep his fingers crossed because if the problem comes back it's going to take more than a couple of hours to fix and he'll be doing the bulk of the work.

[tea lady]

I didn't think Linseed oil dried. Prolly the problem before. Maybe you buffed it all off this time. If already polyed I'd put a wax on it like U-Beaut's Trad wax or something with canuba wax in it. Not bees wax cos might contribute to stickiness.

But you've done it now. Hope it works.

[scottbr]

I suspect the problem previously was that some sort of 'natural oil finish' was put over a poly (or similar) finish. So it just sat on top.

Vigorous scrubbing with acetone, thinners and turps - depending on which bottle was closest at hand as we both worked away - coupled with a dry sand I'd say removed the oil and probably most of the poly.

Then the wet sand with the turps and linseed seemed to penetrate the timber a bit.

We gave it a good wipe down and buff by hand with clean rags.

Then a buff with the 2000 pad on the Rotex.

Then a wipe with a furniture polish.

So far so good, but we'll see. It was all pretty easy - a bit too easy - which makes me wary.


That sander really is amazing. I'm just a DIY guy, but I've used it a lot since I bought it about 8 months ago. I got it from Ideal Tools in Melbourne. Great service.

[LGS]

On the basis that we don't know what was used previously, I would have bitten the bullet and gone ahead and stripped the top. You have a Rotex RO150, so this would not have taken long. Re-oiling with something like Scandinavian Oil or Organoil Hard Burnishing oil would have left a clean finish, particularly when sanded through the grits 100-400 dry and 400-4000 wet (or 2000, as this is the highest pad you have). The final touch would be UBeaut Traditional Wax applied after about 3-5 days.
Beautiful finish and no stickyness. Furniture oil is best used on plasticised timber.

Regards,

Rob

[scottbr]

Yeah, but I wasn't prepared to invest that much time. It was a Sunday morning job and I grabbed what I had.

If it was my table, and I could put it out in my shed for a week and fiddle with it, I would have bitten that bullet. (I like that sander and I'm inclined to sand anything that doesn't move.)

I told my mate that if we end up having to do a proper job we'll have to take the top of the table and walk it round to my place.

I've never used wax, so I wouldn't mind having a go at it. That table of his gets a lot of use and they have young kids, so the surface needs to be a no fuss one. I'm not sure whether wax would be a appropriate?

[LGS]

I've never used wax, so I wouldn't mind having a go at it. That table of his gets a lot of use and they have young kids, so the surface needs to be a no fuss one. I'm not sure whether wax would be a appropriate?

Probably Wipe On Poly would be the best call then.

[tea lady]

I've never used wax, so I wouldn't mind having a go at it. That table of his gets a lot of use and they have young kids, so the surface needs to be a no fuss one. I'm not sure whether wax would be a appropriate?

I had a bench top that I had just "hard burnishing oil"ed. Nothing stuck to it! Although I didn't test it with crayons.

[scottbr]

Thanks all.

I'm hoping it won't come to deciding on another finish, but we'll see.


To change the topic, I like the ceramics on the link in your signature, Anne Maria. I'm keen on that sort of stuff. I bought a ceramic salad/fruit bowl on Friday from a young maker who had a pop-up shop near my office in the city. It was slow going for him - tough gig trying to make a quid from that sort of stuff hayden youlley design // news

[tea lady]

Thanks all.

I'm hoping it won't come to deciding on another finish, but we'll see.


To change the topic, I like the ceramics on the link in your signature, Anne Maria. I'm keen on that sort of stuff. I bought a ceramic salad/fruit bowl on Friday from a young maker who had a pop-up shop near my office in the city. It was slow going for him - tough gig trying to make a quid from that sort of stuff hayden youlley design // news

AH! I love thoise pop up galleries. Thinking of doing something similar down here. Quite a few vacent shops in Belgrave at the moment that might be amenable to cheap rent till a real tenant turns up! BTW, My work is now available at Planet Furniture in Surrey hills. Not much stock yet, but will be soon.

[scottbr]

Ah, this string has taken on of those detours that often happens on forums. But I started the thread, so that's okay.

The pop-up shop I saw was in this place: Gaffa

It's an interesting place. I work more or less in the centre of the Sydney CBD and it's round the corner from me. I've never noticed it despite the fact that I probably walk past it twice a week.

There are a couple of ground floor retail spaces and one of them was empty, so the young bloke got a space for a week - I think he might have one it as part of some emerging artist thing.

Pop-ups are good - provided they don't hang around too long. They need the buzz from a perception that they're only there fleetingly.

It's good for landlords, too, because it can make a space seem more desirable to prospective tenants.

From the maker's perspective, pop-ups can help shift some stock, but more importantly give the maker some exposure to potential retailers.

I noticed you combine timber and ceramics. I think that's clever. There are loads of ceramicists out there, and loads of people doing things with wood, but not many people would be doing both. So it gives you an edge.

I like people who make furniture out of steel and timber for the same reason.

Scott