Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I bought a cheep small dining table for the kitchen when I moved in here, and it's OK and all, but I would like to make the wood more natural looking and possible a bit darker. Right now it looks almost like this, but not as shiny and not quite as yellow (which I think is because of age, it probably looked like that first):


I'm not sure what this type of finish is called in English, lacquer?

So, what is your best advice for getting it off? Sand paper? I don't have any fancy equipment but could maybe borrow if needed. And then what do I do with it? I guess I need some kind of treatment on it?

If you want it more natural looking (i.e. raw wood), you're going to have to strip off the original finish, which will likely be a bit of work.

You'd need a liquid or gel chemical stripper, a metal putty knife, some gloves which won't get melted by the stripper, a sanding block, and some varying grades of sandpaper (medium to fine grit). If you can borrow a vibratory sander for the top and legs, that would be very helpful as well.

Once you've got all the original finish off, you can use a wipe-on stain to make it darker. That looks like plain ol' pine wood to me, so I'd recommend at least a coast or two of clear sealing finish on top once you're done to stop the spilled liquid and drinks from staining the table top.

Alternately, you could just get an all-in-one stain and sealer to go right over the top of either the raw wood... or the table exactly as you have it right now, which won't look as natural, but will be a lot less work.