Draconaei’s Blog

Last summer I moved into a new apartment; it would be my first time living alone, and I had no furniture of my own.  While scouring Craigslist to furnish my new place on the cheap, one of my friends noticed an ad for a wooden drafting table, free to anyone who could pick it up.  Another good friend – also involved in the searching – owns a pickup truck, so the three of us drove over to check it out.  This is what we found:

This was one hefty drafting table, and a solid piece of craft, but had obviously been sitting in the barn for years.  The wood had greyed, the handles had rusted over, and the wood polish was all but entirely removed.  Scuffs and marks covered each surface.  It seemed sturdy and useful enough to be a worthwhile challenge, so there the work began.

With much help from a number of friends, I sanded each surface down to fresh wood, removing all the grime and markings, and priming the wood for staining.  Here you can see sanded and cleaned wood on the left, and the dirty untouched wood on the right:

Next was the most drastic step: staining the wood.  I chose a deep, dark red stain, which transformed the appearance of the wood beautifully.

Once the stain had dried, I sanded the wood again and re-applied the stain to deepen the color.  Once the second coat was dry, it was ready for the wood polish.  I repeated the sequence of sand, polish, and let dry several times to build up many thin layers of polish.  This kept the polish a uniform thickness and will continue to protect the table’s surface.

My friend removed the rust from the drawer handles, and I attached a couple of desk lamps.  Here is the newly cleaned desk, finished and beautiful, sitting in my apartment: