Refinishing a table

#1

I have a utility furniture (1947 ish) kitchen table with two pull out leaves. The leaves are in pretty good nick but the finish on the top has started to go (in one place because my dad used it as an ironing board in the early nineties).

I’m strongly tempted to refinish it, filling in the gaps where the veneer has shrunk back over the years. While wipe-on poly (shudder) is an option at one end of the spectrum, can anyone recommend an alternative which would look smart but be somewhere short of actually french polishing it? I’d prefer to go off a recommendation rather than a catalogue…

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#2

1 coat of osmo wood protector and 3 coats of osmo clear top oil for countertops.

I did that on my wife’s coffee table and it came up lovely. Also protects against coffee cup rings etc. Water just beads and rolls off. Awesome stuff.

#3

I had s similar issue where a hot pan was left on and old table. Only it left a black ring. Ended up sanding the black away and made sort of a gradient by sanding more softly in a radial pattern. After researching different finishes and oil preparations i found an exact match danish oil and proceeded to build up the layers until it matched perfectly.
However, it turns out i’m colourblind and can’t match for shïte so we have a conveniently placed fruit bowl.

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#4

Well that was a rollercoaster ride.

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#5

I’m the M. Night Shyamalan of trivial wood stories.

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#6

@CriticalTolerance did you ever get round to sorting this? I’ve got a table I need to strip and re-finish. It was my grandparents, so it’s sentimental and I don’t want to mess it up. Any suggestions?

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#7

Not yet - although with my gf away I suppose now would be the time to try and sort it!

I would go with the advice above mate. Twm’s expertise far outweighs mine.

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#8

The liberon product I tried did pretty well, doesn’t remove the worse white rings but lessens them, probably easier work for the next sanding stages

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ring+remover+wood&oq=ring+remover&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.4822j1j7&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

#9

Cheers. There’s areas where the lacquer has peeed a little though. Wanna strip it and re-varnish with a darker finish. Just not sure how to go about it. It’s some sort of furniture ply.
Thinking of scraping as much finish off, lightly sanding and then refinishing with a varnish suitable for ply.