HELP - Refinishing top of dining table

1. Plane entire table (depending on depth of gouges, you may be able to use a scraper)
2. Sand entire table
3. Finish -or-
4. Fill scratches/gouges
5. Sand
6. Finish

Note that filling will never result in a result that matches the rest of the table top unless you are skilled enough to "paint in" a matching grain pattern and colors..

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

I'd try an inlay. If the scratches are in the center, I'd use wood chisels or a router to hollow out a spot the same size as a piece of marble tile, inset the tile and use it as a focal point, or a hot pad. Or find a decorative tile design that will look good inset into the top. We have a

"dadiOH"

What should I use to fill the scratches - plastic wood? Harry

Thanks for the help - I will let you know what I do. Harry

Yellow pine is harder than regular pine so you may not get the wood to expand back to something near normal as easily as you would with regular pine. I'd wet a couple of you least favorite wash cloths and press them with a cotton-hot iron. Do it a couple of times and then figure you have the best results you are going to get.

Since you are going to have to mess with the top anyway, try a couple different brands of wood filler. Some say "stainable" now and one of those might work best.

Josie

Hard for me to suggest one because I generally use white glue and sawdust. Little glue, lots of sawdust.

But another poster mentioned inserting a tile. That doesn't turn me on but you could fit a dutchman...a piece of the same wood routed to fit a female routing in the table. It too will show but if you are careful in selecting the grain for the dutchman and make a diamond shape inset, they can be pretty good. Diamond inset so the lines don't cross the top grain at right angles.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at