Restaining stand

[Tristan23]

I'm trying to restain a stand I had purchased. I already sanded that stand with a 150 grit paper and didn't think to use a stripper before hand. Would it be too late to use the stripper? I was planning to use a darker stain than the one on the stand. Could I start over with an 80 grit paper and move up? anything would help.

[jcnkt_ellis]

Stain is absorbed by the wood and doesn't really form a top coat like paint, so a stripper wouldn't help much. Sanding is the only way to go. If you're down to the natural wood color, I would not go lower then 120. I would finish up with something around 400, btw, before I did restrain.

As as far as stain goes, your best bet is to go darker like you already bought. Test it out first though, because you may get some lighter streaks throughout from where the old stain is still in the grain.

[JamieP]

I agree with above.. I am not a wood worker but I have messed up a lot of wood. Sanding with 80 can leave scratches you can't see until you stain. I don't sand with anything bigger than 120 if I am going to stain. Spend a lot of time working your way up to 400 so you have a great finish.

[Tristan23]

Thanks for the advise. I already sanded with 150. Would be good to go back to 120 and move up to a 400? The wood still shows the previous stain.

[jcnkt_ellis]

If the wood still shows the previous stain, you will not hurt anything by dropping down to 120. The whole point of the lower grit is to get to bare wood. Once your at bare wood, I would start working up to 400. You do not have to hit every single grit between 120 and 400 either. I would hit 120, 150, 220, maybe something in the 300s, then 400.

[Tristan23]

I went out and bought 120, 150, and 220. I also bought steel wool for in between coats. I'll go ahead get something in the 300s

[Tristan23]

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/24/8f372e648bae9bfc9244a7ca3d974184.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/24/a28d86f8ac55635b97c02db40c23a899.jpg

This is the end of day one of sanding with 120 grit. I'll probably do a few more touches tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Tristan23]

Here is what I done so far. I started with 120 grit. http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/27/a1328d6820e8282d362a1c9252f24f1e.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/27/0112401907ccba1e0fc933ef327a3251.jpg http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/27/88ab3f5d28769d7216d7b7c4fecfef04.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/27/7155a11137a242a9e5ec8b6e396bdaf4.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/27/c9e9f90b59297be2311ed4b1fd76e7e0.jpg

[Tristan23]

Hopefully I can get some work on it today to burn off that turkey :cool::rolleyes::p