Intro hi I'm Lisa with I inters and today's project
is this burn heart server I was out shopping at Salvation Army and I picked it up for $60 um
it's really pretty good shape overall it has the drawer that you pull out it has all the areas
for the cutlery and the cloth that comes over to protect the silverware from tarnish so when
I got home I realized it was actually finished on all sides so it's kind of a unique piece and
the respect that it can be floated in the middle of a room it doesn't have to go against the wall
but it also means that if if I'm going to whatever finish I put on it I've got to address the back
as well so it would be a lot of work to refinish the entire piece so anytime I'm flipping a piece
I always like to think in reverse and I like to think about what can I resell this piece for
so I'm going to do a little bit of research on I'm going to screenshot it take it into Google
lens do some reverse search on it see if what are they selling for in Asis condition what are they
selling for if people have refinished them so I don't want to put in more more effort and and time
and supplies than I can actually recoup because which is fine if it's your hobby but if it's your
business you want to make sure it's profitable so I'm going to do a little bit of research before
I decide on a design but I don't want to paint it um I think with the moving Parts with the um
those flaps opening you know paint can rub and all that wood is a much more durable finish if you
have moving Parts like that so I definitely want to keep it wood but I don't particularly like
the color that it is right now so I'm trying to decide do I strip it to Raw do I use my gentle
restoration and um put some gel stain over the existing finish I'm going to do some research and
we'll try to decide as I go let's go overall it's Before shot/cleaning/remove hardware a really nice piece you can tell it's just really
orange so I think the Finish is honestly the the most dated part of it definitely have some issues
on the top um the stone is thankfully in perf condition sometimes those are are broke or
cracked thankfully no problems there I still have the inside the drawer The Cutlery area that
whole piece can come out and so if somebody wants to use that a little bit differently you can
see the hardware is very tarnished but um the main issue is I have this big chunk right there
of veneer that's just completely missing so I'm going to have to either fill it in or patch it in
and then correct it but it's a really beautiful piece you can see I have a lot of variations in
the wood I usually like to start by doing a good clean and that just helps me to assess it to see
okay what actually needs to be done to this so if I don't think I'm going to need a full refinish I
will go ahead and clean first and that just helps me in the assessment process so I'm using a nice
Degreaser I'm going to get on the bottom and then I'll give it a really nice sand sometimes
it's just good to get a nice clean surface you'd be amazed at what you can get out by just
using a Degreaser so there was an area here on the surface that had some type of marring on it
and I was able to just um buff that out I will go ahead and remove all of the hardware
so that I can give a really good polish for the area where I'm missing the veneer
I have a pack of veneer that I bought at Veneer patch my local Woodcraft and it just kind of helps
me match up some veneer and see what's close enough that I could actually patch it in
and and then maybe color it in to match and I felt like this piece probably had
the most similar wood grain I'm going to place a piece of tape over the area that
I'm missing the veneer I'm going to color that area in with some pencil I was losing
my lead at this point but it's still works now I'm going to take the tape and I'm going to
put it over the veneer I'm going to trace out that area cut it and then that's the piece I'm going
to actually glue in and patch in that missing veneer for Scuff sanding while that's drying I'm going to move
on to scuff sanding I am going to try a gentle restoration I'm using general finish's
protocol of putting gel stain over an existing finish you need to either sand 150 or 180
you're just scuffing up the surface a little bit so that it can accept the gel stti then
you're going to clean it with a 50/50 mixture of denatured alcohol and water it's going to
be a really good sanitizer get any additional grease off you can see the shine on the left
as opposed to the right where it just kind of dulled down that surface I'm just trying to
kind of etch it up kind of knocking back the shine so I had a little area there where you
can still see some shine so I'm going to go back with my 180 hit that again and then clean
it back off I have an area that has a scratch or something I might go a little bit deeper
maybe 15 but I try to kind of stay with 180 cuz I'm really trying not to break through the
existing finish I'm just kind of roughing it up this is something extra that I do for the
detailed areas I like to hit it with a little bit of liquid sandpaper just to make sure that it's
etched up well enough so that it can accept the gel stain I'm going to use veranee gel stain
in the color Hickory it's very easy to apply Staining gel stain sits on top top of the surface
I'm using just a little stain applicator and I'm applying it in a circular motion going
against the grain I'm just going to apply it let it set for just a couple minutes and then I'm
going to pull back the excess with a lint-free rag I'm using Mohawk's epoxy putty just
to fill in a few areas on my repair hair Veneer fill on the veneer where it didn't quite meet in
with the existing wood so I'm just going to use that to fill in those little areas right
there I used light Walnut um they have it in a lot of different colors but this is
my first time using it so I usually use quickwood but I've heard really good things
about Mohawk so this is my first time using it I'm going to continue working my
way around the whole cabinet giveing Continue staining a nice good scuff sand so that I can go
ahead and start applying the gel stain and I'll sand that repair area and then
begin the process of blending that in as well for I didn't feel like that was dark enough so
now I'm going to go back with the second 2nd coat coat after that dried for 12 hours and
I'm going to use General finish's Java I just feel like it needs to be a little
bit darker so we're going to just keep working it and layering it and to get it
to the right tone that I'm looking for [Music] so here it is after two coats of the gel stain
I like it but it's still not exactly what I'm looking for so I think what I'm going to do
it's really close to the tone I'm looking for so I think what I'm going to do is I'm
going to tone it so I'm going to add a Toning little bit of dark walnut into my top coat as
a toner and I'm hoping that that will give me exactly the color that I'm looking for so you
can usually put in couple teaspoons usually I think they say about 10% I have about
a cup of the top coat and then I'm just going to add a couple teaspoons in I kind
of eyeball it so I don't have a particular formula but then I'm going to apply it and see
if that will give me the tone that I'm looking for I'm still working on that repair I'm going
to tape it off and use some Mohawk blend doll Veneer blending sticks just to kind of blend it in the area
where it was missing they had like a little lighter colored detail on it so I'm trying to
blend that in to the existing area so I'm just going to keep kind of working it with my blend
doll sticks I'll come back and use some of the toner then I'll also layer over that some gel
stain so sometimes it's just a matter of layering it's kind of like what you would do as an artist
you're just layering and you're just trying to get things to look like the surrounding wood so
does it had to be 100% perfect no you would be surprised it'll just all blend in but I just kind
of keep working it until I get it where I like it I do like the tone so now I'm ready to seal
it so I'm going to use the same sealer I was Sealing using before this is a polyurethane by
Minwax and it's in a beautiful warm flat finish as a final touch I'm going to do
a little bit of gilding with some gold Gilding wax and I'm just going to use my finger and I'm
just going to go over some of those tiny little details for the hardware I boil some water add
some vinegar let it soak then I come back with Polish hardware some Barber's friend very fine with steel
wool or a very soft brush and I polish all the hardware you can see how much tarnish
was on there and then I'll spray mohawk brass for lacquer this is just going to slow down
the tarnish process let's look back at the before of this orange little beauty was in good shape
overall I mean quality piece but obviously we had some failing finish I had a big chunk of
veneer that was missing but after all of those repairs and a gentle restoration with gel stain
here is the finished product isn't it lovely I After really like the tone I had the two coats of gel
stain but it just still was wasn't quite what I was looking for so the toning with the dark
walnut really made a big difference and I just think that matte can you believe that beautiful
very subtle shine on there this is a beautiful polyure thing I'm really loving the matte finish
right now can you believe that Hardware absolutely stunning I'm always amazed when I polish up the
hardware just the huge difference that a Polish makes but the wood grain you can see I had a lot
of failing finish but the gel stain just filled all that right in and then the multiple coats
of polyurethane Seals Everything I do like the subtle uh gilding it's not very bold but it's very
subtle so I think it kind of matches the piece I am glad I left it would because I think it helps
with the functionality as of our cabinet when you're opening and closing the fliptop I think
it makes it very durable and usable so overall I think it's a very beautiful piece I think it
really brings it into the 21st century what do you think do you like this one did you like the
tone tell me what you think and thanks so much for watching e e e e e so what do you think do you like the tone
I really do I I'm you know do you like the tone I really do it has still has a lot of
the variations in the wood but I really felt like it needed to go a little bit darker and I
think adding that dark walnut um toner over the existing two coats of gel stain really just made
it Shine that existing Hardware polished up all day beautiful subtle gilding love it too so I'm
a fan I think it's beautiful so obviously it's a quality piece it's a burn heart so it's always
really fun to be able to refurnish it's really fun to be able to refinish such quality pieces and
and allow somebody to be able to use it in their home I'm glad I did decide to
keep the wood because I think that it really helps with this particular type of I'm glad I was able to keep the wood
and not paint it because it's just a lot more functional especially when you open the
fliptop area and you're opening and closing those using it as a bar um making if you're
using it as a bar cabinet I think it's just a lot more functional and more durable because
you're not going to have chipping paint so I think it's a really beautiful piece and I I
think it looks definitely a lot more modern what do you think do you like the tone what
do you think do you like this tone of wood or did you prefer the orange tell me in the
comments and thanks so much for watching