Desk refinish [View all]

My dad picked this up somewhere when I was about 7 years old.

The "before" picture doesn't really show how much the finished was messed up, but it looked pretty terrible. it has been in the family for over 60 years.

I consulted some experts and determined it did not really have any historical significance, nor was it unusually valuable, so I refinished it some years ago.

Stripped chemically, and hand-sanded. Replaced damaged back with hardwood lauan plywood. Mixed 3 stains together to get the color I wanted. 7 coats of wipe-on polyurethane. Replaced hinges. put knobs into a vice to bend them back to original shape. Heated knobs in a slow cooker to clean them. Had to drive 100 miles to have someone re-silver the mirrors, there was no one local who would do it.

Sorry if this is a repeat. I have no idea if I posted this before. if I did, it would have been years ago.

Before:


After: