My Own Undoing!

I bought a table and chairs for my family when I lived in the Ketch House.  That was probably in 1983.  I bought it at Levitz and it was a big purchase for me, since I almost never bought anything new and at full price.  Though, maybe it was on sale.  Anyway, it was perfect for us.  A nice solid oak table with 2 leaves, and 8 chairs.  I moved that table to the Hemlock house and to the  Wyoming houses and back to CA, to the Oneida House and the Linden house and finally once again to Wyoming to the house we live in now on Road 10.

Once I moved to Wyoming, Grover and I  really didn't need the 8 chairs any longer and we didn't have room in the kitchen for them, so we stacked them out in the garage.  I painted the table red with a white top to go with my red and white kitchen.  Actually I painted the table white first, then decided we needed more color.  So after covering it with 2 coats of white, I added 2 coats of red.

I didn't take a before picture before I started stripping it  -- honestly, because I thought Rachel would refuse the table if she saw it red.  But here's a picture I found of it in its red and white glory several years back.  I think that's Tyler. 

When Rachel's dining room chairs started to fall apart I promised her the 8 chairs when/if she moved to Utah. Only because it was too far to transport them to California.  And because she had a dream of having a house.  Utah seemed the most likely place.  The chairs were still oak, and still unpainted.

 When Grover saw a nice stately mahogany table and tall cushioned chairs at the ReStore, he had to have it, and we moved the red table out onto the porch.

Now that Rachel is moving to Utah (just an 8 hour drive) I realized I could finally get those 8 chairs to her.  And. . .  then realized she would need the table too.  But red?  I didn't think that was her thing.  So, against everyone's advice (meaning my friends) I decided to undo the paint and strip the table back to its original oak splendor.

 About 3 weeks ago I began the process.  I began with the top.

  As I sanded and scraped and sanded Grover watched and offered bits of advice.  Like, "why don't you take the feet off the legs?"   And "don't the legs come apart from the center piece?"  To which I always answered, I don't know.  I think they are glued.  They don't come off.  And then, they would get loose and prove me wrong.  None of it was glued.  And everything came apart easily.

I stripped the big pedestal legs, and removed the feet -- below.

Here is the table in pieces and in stages:  The paint did not come off easily, and I tried every idea I could find online.  I tried 3 different kinds of paint strippers, including a varnish and stain stripper which I bought by accident.  I tried oven cleaner (does not work and has the worst fumes!!!) and I tried making a homemade stripper using borax and flour and water.  (No good either.)  The commercial strippers are the only way to go, and even those are of varying degrees of effectiveness. 

.    I used nearly a gallon of stripper, lots of steel wool,  sandpaper, and paintbrushes. I used a putty knife, a screwdriver, a paper clip, a nail.  I used wooden dowels sharpened to a point to remove the paint in the grooves and I used burlap twine to twist and turn out the paint on the dowel posts. And to clean it all up and get the stripper off and out of the wood grain, I used copious amounts of mineral spirits.

Finally I got the paint off, and then I put on a few coats of polyurethane to seal and protect the wood.  And to make it all shiny.  I sanded between each of the coats, so the poly would adhere.  I think it gives the table and base a nice sheen, don't you?

Several coats later and you have the finished product!  Hooray!  This is just before I put the connecting rail and spindles and feet on the pedestal legs. 

.  I'm not going to completely assemble it until it reaches Rachel's new home. It almost looks brand new!  It's lasted this long.  I  imagine it just might last another 30 years!  I'm very pleased with it.  I hope Rachel's family loves it too.