Stripping old finishes
How to read an old finish, choose between chemical strippers and sanding, and reach bare wood without crushing the grain.
Read the guideSolid wood restoration · Canada
Keep good wood out of the landfill.
Monmelta documents how to strip, refinish, repair, and repurpose solid wood furniture. Each guide follows one piece from worn surface to working again, with the grits, tools, and timing written down rather than guessed.
Three guides
One technique per piece, start to finish
Solid wood is worth the effort because it can be cut back to bare timber and built up again many times. Veneered and particle-board pieces cannot. These guides assume solid hardwood or softwood and walk through the decisions in order.
Refinishing a dining table
A sanding sequence by grit, the difference between dyes and pigment stains, and how oil, wax, and film finishes behave on a daily-use top.
Read the guide
Repairing & repurposing
Re-gluing loose joints, filling gaps the right way, and turning a piece that no longer suits its room into something used again.
Read the guide
Why solid wood
Repair is usually cheaper than replacement, and quieter on the bin
Furniture and other durable goods make up a meaningful share of what households send to landfill. A solid wood chair with a loose joint or a tired finish is rarely past saving; the joint can be re-glued and the surface re-cut to clean wood. The barrier is knowing the order of operations, not the cost of materials.
- Identify the existing finish before you touch itShellac, lacquer, oil, and modern film finishes each respond differently.
- Match grit to defect, not habitMost over-sanding happens because the starting grit was too coarse.
- Glue is a clamping problem, not a glue problemJoint repairs fail from poor clamping far more than from the adhesive.
Contact
Ask about a specific piece
Send details about a chair, table, or cabinet you are working on and what stage you are stuck at. Include the wood type if you know it. Notes are reviewed in the order received.
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