One of the things that I have just discovered in the past few weeks is that unfinished wood furniture is the way to go. I'm not trying to sell you on the idea of raw unfinished furniture; I am just excited about this new process that I learned and want to share it. I don’t know if it is something that I am just into right now but got introduced to it from a friend of mine and I love it. I didn’t realize how cool it can be and how great the process can be. Buying a piece of unfinished bedroom furniture, sanding it and detailing it according you how you like. I just finished my first piece of furniture (A Computer Desk) and if you are a crafty person you will probably love this process. I am excited to go through the steps and share what I have learned.

The first bonus that I have noticed right off the bat is that you can be your own quality control for your furniture. If you do not build your own furniture with raw lumber, (which is completely possible and something that I plan on exploring next) you can make sure that the quality of the materials used is up to your standards. For example if you buy a piece of unfinished oak furniture the manufacture or factory cannot cover up defects in the wood with paints or laminates. So you actually see what you get. From the grain of the wood to the hardware used on the piece of furniture. This is especially nice to be able to do with unfinished pine furniture being that pine is wet and a soft wood.  

The next thing that is nice is that you also have thousands of options available to you in regards to finishes. First off you can buy from an unfinished furniture store and they provide you with many of their furniture styles in different wood types. The main choices that you have when it comes to unfinished wood furniture are: alder, aspen, pine, oak, and redwood. This all is depending on the look you want, the cost you are willing to spend, and the way you are going to finish the piece of furniture. You also have the choice of color. If you are going to paint the furniture and not keep the raw wood visible with a varnish or clear coat you have thousands of color options available to you just at your local hardware shop. You can also match colors with existing colors in your house so that everything matches. One of the nice things that you can also do is modify the furniture. You can add drawers, shelves, lights, or handles. You can customize the furniture to your specific needs before the final finish is applied.

                                                Here are the basic materials that I used.

1.) #100 Grit Sandpaper and #220 Grit Sandpaper

2.) Clean Cloth Towels, Soap and Water

3.) Stain (your choice from any hardware store)

4.) 1 Brush for the stain

5.) 3M Fine Buffing Pad

6.) Clear Coat (your choice from any hardware store)

I will cover varnishing and not painting. Painting involves the same preparation (Step #1) and uses a primer and then paint itself. Here is a quick video that can give you a basic idea of what you will be doing.

Ok let's get down to the actual process and the steps.

STEP #1: Preparation

The first thing is to inspect your wood. You need to check for defects. As I do this I like to take a #220 grit piece of sandpaper on a sandpaper block. And start to do a quick sand on all the surfaces. Sometimes #220 is too fine and you need more of a course sandpaper like #100 grit to start and then you go over it a second time with the #220. After that is done take a clean rag with soap and water and wipe the wood down just to get off any dust, grime or grease that may be on the surface. Then make sure you let the wood dry.

STEP #2: Staining

After the wood is dry make sure you are in a place with good ventilation. I used my garage and left the door open to the backyard as well as the garage door as I worked. My friend uses his shed in the backyard. The stain we used required us to use a conditioner on the wood this is just painted on with a brush. Not all stains require this but ours did. This is more of a cleaning step that would be wiped off I would not use this again step #1 does the same thing. Depending on what you are finishing you may need to remove the hardware. This step is your choice. I personally like to remove the hardware and stain each piece and put the piece of furniture back together in the end. My friend likes to use painters tape and tape off the hardware. It's your choice.

Now our stain required us to use a brush to paint the stain on and then use a rag to rub the stain into the wood. Making sure not to drip and apply evenly. Our stain allowed us 10 minutes so we can fix any areas that were not visually appealing and even the stain out. If a darker finish is desired you let the stain dry for an hour and apply another coat until you are satisfied. In well ventilated areas our stain took 3 hours to dry to where it was not sticky or damp to the touch.

STEP #3: Final Finish

This step uses a clear coat to seal the wood. After the stain has cured overnight it is recommended that you run a 3M buffing pad over the surface. This makes tiny scratches in the stain not visible to the eye that the clear coat can adhere to. Next take the clear top coat and apply evenly with a foam brush or pad. You want to make sure you use even strokes and always brush with the grain of the wood. Our clear coat only required one coat to achieve the finish we desired. In our well ventilated area it took our clear coat longer to dry, about 8 hours.

STEP #4: Enjoy

Now that the wood has dried you can put it in your house and allow it to cure. We let the wood sit for about a week to cure completely. This depends on the wood of course and indoor temperature. After that you can just polish it with any wood polish or wax and enjoy. I found this project really rewarding and I enjoyed being able to customize and finish true, solid, real furniture. All the materials needed for finishing was found at my local Home Depot. I hope that this helps you in your next project or sparks your interest.

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