Friday, July 1, 2011

What a Night!

Six beautiful and completely nude (stripped) dining room chairs came into our possession yesterday morning. The people who had had them before us had actually done all of the hard word by removing all of the old stain or paint from them. I am sure that they looked just how they had many a year ago before the finishing steps were taken. They were beautiful even in the nude but they had not sealants and therefore would have stained, etc very easily. Dining chairs and tables would have been the worst things to leave in their original state.

Once we brought them to their new home, I could hardly wait to get their facelifts done!!! The style of these beauties is basically straight except for some carvings on their backs. I was a bit concerned about how I would get stain and varnish everywhere that they needed to me. There are many nooks and cranies. Anything that missed either of these would stand out like a sore thumb.

I have no idea how long these chairs had been "undressed". Evidentally for a considerable amount of time. The stain was just sucked in like no other projects I've ever done. For 6 dining chairs, a complete quart of stain was used! For anyone who has ever dabbled in the finishing or refinishing of wooden furniture or woodwork of any kind, you know that a little bit of stain usually goes a very long way. At the absolute most, it should have taken half of that much.

Anyway, I managed to get all of the staining done on 2 of the chairs yesterday afternoon. I had planned on taking two days to get all 6 of them stained but anyone who knows me knows that once I begin a project, I become obsessed with it and cannot wait to get it finished. I ended up staining all of them by 2:00 this morning. I am very pleased with how step 1 has gone. For the most part, all of the stain's coverage is even. What I mean by that is that it is always possible that the stain color could be too light or too dark in comparison to each chair. Not the look that I am going for. I need to take a closer look at one of them that is possibly just a bit lighter than the rest of them. Having one lighter than the rest is much better than too dark. For one that is too light, I just need to put on another coat of the stain and it should match perfectly. I don't want to get the "faded" look.

All of the chairs are dry this morning which means that I can begin step 2, the final step. In the past, I've always used polyurethane on all of my projects and have always been quite pleased. This time, I discovered that when I bought the last can of sealer, I picked up something different. This is a finishing lacquer. I've spoken to other people about this product. After all of the work and hours that I have put into these chairs, the last thing that I want to do is apply something that we are not going to like. The people whom I've talked with about this have told me that some people actually prefer this. It comes in Satin, Gloss and High Gloss. I always buy High Gloss so that is what this is also. I need to go to Western Hardware this morning to pick up a brush that is made for lacquering. Their bristles are supposed to be finer than other paint/stain brushes. So, my work on these chairs will begin today. According to the directions, it will take 3-4 coats to get the job done sufficiently. That is the same as with polyurethane varnish. The good thing about the lacquer is that NO sanding in between coatings is necessary. Now I LOVE that!!! The process should be easier and go much quicker than otherwise. It is a calm day outside today and the temperature is ONLY supposed to be in the lower 90s. Given all of that, I will be setting our chairs on the patio in a shady location to get this started (and finished).

I want to pass this information on to you also. To this day, I've never come across a fume-free stain or varnish. When I began staining the first chair, I noticed an odor but it was nothing negative so I did 2,3,4,5 and 6 chairs. No problem. But when I awakened this morning, I noticed a BIG odor in the house! Evidentally I just got used to the fumes quickly. Now I have just got to get the chairs outdoors so that their fumes can dissipate and step 2 can be done. Another note. Most varnish and lacquer products warn you NOT to use these products indoors. If you do, not only can the smell be bad but you can actually get carbon monoxide off of them. If that isn't bad enough, the vapors can ignite as soon as you light your cooking stove, a cigarette, etc.

Years ago, our son, Adam, made a gorgeous desk for us in his woodworking class at school. Once it had been graded, we brought it home. A couple of days later, all three of us had severe headaches and did not feel good. Someone suggested that we needed to have the gas company come and look for gas leaks. Of course, the company sent a serviceman right over. His meter actually revealed that we were being poisoned by carbon monoxide. It was being released from the new desk!

I hope that you will take my warning sufficiently. I don't know if this would be enough carbon monoxide to kill someone but I sure wouldn't want to take any chances.

I am assuming that the chairs will be completed and back in the dining room where they belong very soon. I promise to let you know how they turn out!

VLE-B

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