Has anyone restrained their tack trunk before? Mine has some scratches and gouges taken out of it and I was thinking of stripping it down and refinishing it. I was looking on Google for tutorials but didn’t find much there. Any helps/tricks/horror stories would be much appreciated. TIA
Stripping and restaining is a horrible job. I will never do it again.
If you can get away with just refinishing, there are lots of good products out there. I have had very good luck using Formby’s or a similar refinisher on older pieces of furniture. Results have been excellent.
The difference between stripping and refinishing is that with the former, you are removing not just the topcoat but also the original stain. This is necessary for really bad damage or if you want to change the color of the piece. You go right down to the original wood, and you raise the grain. You then have to start from scratch with all the sanding, etc.
If the topcoat is damaged and scuffed but you like the original color of the stain, you can get away with just refinishing. You do some sanding between new layers of topcoat, but overall, it’s much quicker and much less work.
If your trunk is badly damaged and you need to repair and strip it, I would pay a professional to do it. As I said, it’s a very difficult and time-consuming job.
I’ve refinished a few things and find it very gratifying.
Can you get the manufacturer to refinish the trunk?
Our trunks always have covers on them, with sides folded out of the way. Too may dogs and kids!
If you have a Lowes handy, look through their book rack at the front of the store. There’s probably a book on wood or furniture finishing that will give the basics. Something like this.
It can be as easy as 15 minutes of light sanding and a couple coats of PolyShades or a weeks long adventure with strippers, solvents and a gooy mess.
Done it many times , pretty easy, takes an afternoon usually for the stripping sanding and staining , then the next day for the clear coat, Get a good quality clear coat, skip the all in ones
Thanks for all of the replies! There are a couple of deeper scratches on the lid from when there was no cover on it as well as some chew marks from a cribber that was stalled next to my trunk :(.
I love the color but with the damage I think it needs to be sanded down. I bought the trunk from Dover so I don’t have the option of sending it back to them for refinishing. I have stained and refinished some furniture before, but those were all wood items that had been painted. I wasn’t sure if lifting the polyurethane was a similar process or not.
Guess now I just have to decide to hold off, DIY, or send to a pro
If you don’t want to do the stripping another option is to take it to a furniture stripper, have then strip and maybe even sand, and then do the refinishing yourself.
[QUOTE=Peggy;8606598]
If you don’t want to do the stripping another option is to take it to a furniture stripper, have then strip and maybe even sand, and then do the refinishing yourself.[/QUOTE]
Ohhh that’s a really interesting idea. My husband built me a wood saddle stand that I stained and sealed over the summer. I’m pretty comfortable with the staining portion of it, the stripping is what was concerning me. Thanks!
We just have stained wood on our trunks around the top and botom trim, the rest has the vinyl walls with our barn logo. The trims get beat up though, and we actually just bring a little can of the stain to each show with us, and part of the setup is to just do a quick once over on the trims as/where needed. May not be the most proper way to do it, but it works for us and our trunks always looks sharp :yes:
