Progress on refinishing an old desk chair

My favorite part of finishing wood is being finished with it. I'm a ways away from that now so I had better suck it up and keep working.

After I finally finished sanding I wiped it down with a cloth and mineral spirits to get the dust off of it. Then I applied two coats of Varathane brand oil-based stain in a color they used to call "Mission Oak" and now call "Gunstock". I applied the second coat two hours after the first. There are a few really deep scratches that I left because I would have had to sand away a ridiculous amount of wood; besides, it is an old chair so having some character is OK with me.

I could not for the life of me find my blonde shellac flakes and I was really upset because I want to keep up the momentum and get this chair finished. So I used some of my garnet shellac for the first coat of shellac. I had planned on using some after doing a first coat of blonde, now the order is just rearranged a bit. It looks a little bit shiny, enough to notice a difference but a long ways from where I want it to be.

Doesn't it already look better than the "before" picture!?

To be continued...

Refinishing an old chair

I bought this old desk chair at the same time I bought the church pews. It's a great old chair but the photo doesn't do justice to the poor condition of the finish. It was pretty scuffed and scratched. I have been working to get the chair in better shape. Here it is as it was when I bought it (on the left) and here it is now (on the right). Once the stripping and sanding process is finished I'll stain and varnish it and it'll be ready to come in the house.