I've recieved some old chairs that need to be refinished. The wood is
real porous and rough. They've been dipped as well.

I'm concerned with it being too porous/grainy. The whole chair is
rough, not just a few spots. Should I just sand this until its smooth,
apply some kind of filler, or try to fill it with coats of poly? If I
sould do the filler, what is the most painless method?

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've recieved some old chairs that need to be refinished. The wood is
real porous and rough. They've been dipped as well.

I'm concerned with it being too porous/grainy. The whole chair is
rough, not just a few spots. Should I just sand this until its smooth,
apply some kind of filler, or try to fill it with coats of poly? If I
sould do the filler, what is the most painless method?


What kind of wood? Could the roughness be residue from the dipping? At
least give sanding a try and se what you get. Start with 120, then 220.

You have yourself a real project there. You are dealing with either
raised grain from the stripper being washed off, or the stripper ate
into the wood a bit, leaving it rough. In either case, you can use a
sanding sealer, probably more than one coat, sanding lightly between
coats.
Are you going to paint, stain, or just clear finish these chairs?
Have you estimated the time it will take to do the refinishing,
compared to the cost of comparable new chairs, and found it is in fact
worth you time (at whatever rate your time is worth)? Frequently,
unless you are dealing with antique restoration, it's not feasable.
If you are restoring antiques, do you know what the original finish
was, and can you duplicate it well?
Perhaps this is a family heirloom, in which case the sentimental value
of the chairs overrides the cost of refinishing them (labor of love)?
Just a few things to think about, hopefully before you invest a lot of
time in this.