Old Sideboard Poly Day: The Drawers

 I decided I needed to refinish an old sideboard that belonged to my grandmother. The siblings who worked on it previously (don’t worry, they don’t read this blog) did what I thought was a rather patchy job of the staining and finishing. Also, it came with a freshly veneered top that was not set so it was all wavy and bubbly looking.

Not one to rush into anything, I had it for a number of years before I decided to refinish it. My prime motivator was not the wavy top and the clown car unmatched staining, but the fact that one winter some icky little flour bug creatures infested it, and I thought cleaning and staining it would not only look better, but stripper and various cleaners and sanding would get rid of the ickies.

I started this project in the summer of 2023 when we were having new floors installed in the house. I used stripper, but it had to sit on the area you were working on for six hours before you scraped it off, then used  steel wool additionally to remove it. It took quite awhile to get this stage done, and the sideboard  sat in the garage for the winter. 

Despite my goal to finish in early summer, here I am in October racing to finish sanding and applying polyurethane. Before it’s too cold. I need three coats of poly, according to everything I’ve read. Good thing it’s breezy and will warm up to 80 degrees today.

If you see videos or tutorials on refinishing old sideboards like this they always paint it. This is because these old pieces of furniture were made from several types of wood. They won’t match, and at best you see them with really dark stain to cover this up. If you don’t, clown car city. 

I’m starting the staining with the drawers which are a really light wood, so they will always look different. Note various videos said to apply poly with sponge brushes because they don’t streak, lol.

And here is the main part of the sideboard where I’ve been working on sanding those legs. This section has at least three different kinds of wood. Busted. It’s coming in the house for the winter, one way or the other. Noting also the doors for it are a fourth type of wood. I recommend its next owner just paints the thing.