Somewhere around in the middle of the 1990's my mother bought a new "Solid" oak dining room set, a table and 6 chairs.

Having 4 teenagers in the house only 1 chair survived the past 20 years, but the table stood the test of time (somewhat), as you can see from the before pics, it only had some ware and tear to the finish.

We inherited the table about 7 years ago and I finally convinced the wife it needed refinishing, here's how it went.

Step 1:

First thing to do dis-assembly. Remove table top and legs from the base, replace washers/nuts onto bolts you don't want to lose them.

Step 2:

Next step was to use a technique called "Shou Sugi ban" to darken and protect the wood.

Shou Sugi Ban (or Yakisugi) is an ancient Japanese exterior siding technique that preserves wood by charring it with fire. Traditionally, Sugi wood (cryptomeria japonica L.f., also called Japanese cedar) was used. The process involves charring the wood, cooling it, cleaning it, and finishing it with a natural oil.

Step 3:

With the legs finished I moved on to the table base.

Step 4:

I started burning off the old finish from the table top, first on the sides then I moved onto the table top.

Step 5:

After the initial charing/sanding of the top I went back over the top with the torch And that's when disaster struck, the top of the "solid oak" table top started peeling off... when I brushed off the charcoaled wood, I realized it was only a thin oak veneer that was glued to chipboard/particle board with a 1/2 inch of real oak around the outside lip.

Now I need to figure out what I can do with this hunk of junk table...and the wife was/is not pleased.

Thanks for looking at my disaster piece of an ible.