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There has been a lot posted here on refinishing floors and you might want to search the site for basic info. Most flooring will be red oak and not white oak. There isn’t a lot of difference between them but white oak will be a little tougher than red and outside, it will stand up better to weather. As far as finishing white oak, because it is basically lighter than red oak, you will want the stain to set up a little longer. White oak can be difficult to get to a really good deep, dark color.
If you were going for a look and color that was as white as possible, you might consider using water based polyurethane for a finish. For most wear situations, and floors do take a lot of wear, oil based poly is better and lasts longer. One major difference is that oil based poly has an amber color and that affects the finished look.
You might get a piece of white oak and just do some sampling with finishes. If you are really sold on a cherry look, you might look for an experienced finisher who was used to working with analine dye as these dyes do offer a lot more color range and blending capability to achieve the exact color and depth you want against more generally available stains. You still can do a great job with commercial stain but you should do a little testing before you make a total commitment. (And don’t forget to stir the can or cans of stain well.)
Henry in MI
If you prefer a film finish, clear/white shellac is also very safe. A more purified form of shellac is actually used as a coating on many of the pills that are made so it is intrinsically fairly safe. Shellac dries fast but I would let your bread cooling rack sit at least over night to be sure that all of the solvents have evaporated before using it.
Henry in MI
are the keys to getting a good lasting job. This has been covered many times here and you might search for earlier posts.
Personally, your best resource is a good local independent paint store or the local store of a paint retailer. The quality of information that you get from home centers on this can be extremely variable. Personally, I would go to a Sherwin-Williams paint store and use the products that they suggest with the preparation methods that you should make them cover with you.
Henry in MI
To get the best available info on this, you could call the people at Cabot at the number shown on the can.
FWIW, you can apply water based over old water based or old oil based and particularly with an appropriate primer. For application of either the solid stain or primer, I would use a 1-1/2″ or so sash brush for the edges of the boards since the angle will help you get into small spaces better and then roll the wide side of the board. Since this will be more like applying a thin paint than a really watery stain, I’d probably use the 3/8″ nap roller. If the boards have a really rough surface, I would use the 3/4″ nap but from the sound of it, the surface is pretty smooth.
Henry in MI
This is a question for the experts at Zinsser, the maker of B-I-N, I would say. Go to their website at http://www.zinsser.com and post on their “Contact Us” feature toward the top right of the page.
I can’t say that I have ever had or wanted to contact them so please let us know their comments and how they handled it.
Henry in MI
There are things that you can do to add adhesion to wood finishes but they all come with some amount of visual detraction from the look most people want. I would bet that most hardwood stair treads in this country are finished with some kind of polyurethane and that is what I would use. Choosing a less glossy finish level is always a good idea for wood floors as that hides many small scratches that come from use. Personally, I seem to have a lot more trouble navigating stairs with carpet on them.
Henry in MI
Yvette, I’m not sure that I understand where you are now. Do you mean that you have removed the carpet and the vinyl runner? Or have you stripped with a finish stripper like Strypeeze, Citristrip, Peel Away, Kleen-Strip or one of the many other brands of stripper? Most of the chemical strippers should remove the remaining vinyl but it may help to get rid of as much of the rubber or vinyl as you can with a mechanical stripping tool or even a 5-in-1 painter’s knife.
My feeling is that chemical stripping is usually better than sanding because it doesn’t remove wood. You do have to sand to smooth the surface to refinish but you should only have to remove a very small amount of wood for this. If you try to sand the rubber or vinyl away, you will probably gum up the sand paper a lot and go through a lot of paper. You also may spread the color in the vinyl around to more of the wood by sanding. I would try to get as much of the vinyl off by mechanical and then chemical stripping so that ALL the vinyl is gone. That way, you will not to have to worry about something on the wood surface causing a streaky or blotchy stain job.
Henry in MI
The standard that many people use for fence posts is that one-third goes in the ground. For your posts that would be 5.333 feet times .333 (1/3rd) equals about 1 foot 9 inches. If you are just going to put a couple of posts up to stack up the rails going in the 2 directions to mark the corners of your lot, your application will not be under much stress and you could get by easily just burying a foot and a half.
Henry in MI
The solvent for marker is alcohol. You can use about any kind of alcohol for this and denatured alcohol would be best followed by rubbing alcohol. You will want to apply a pretty good amount of alcohol and immediately apply a wad of paper towels to soak up the alcohol with the marker along with that.
Please remember that alcohol is flammable and burns without a visible flame. Don’t use it near a source of ignition and ventilate the area well.
Henry in MI
You can use white oak (not red oak) for this and attach the treads with stainless steel screws. It will not last as long as pressure treated wood and be relatively expensive. You can use an interior stain but you will want to use at least 3 coats of a good exterior, oil based polyurethane or spar varnish on both the top and the bottom of the wood. You will want to be sure that this step is not slippery by tossing a couple of handfulls of sharp/builders sand on top of the last coat while it is still wet or put a couple of strips of the non-slip abrasive-topped tape that is made for this on the step. You will want to re-apply a coat every year or so of the varnish or poly to the lightly sanded step so be sure that you remember what you used and use the same thing again. This is not what I would suggest as the cheapest or easiest approach but it certainly can be done without too much difficulty if you want the effect.
Henry in MI
I checked one of the best general catalogs that I know of and the smallest they showed was a 1MT. If you can’t get any direction on finding a source, I think that your approach may have to be to find the names of dead center manufacturers by visiting your local tool distributor and either start checking the manufacturers individual catalogs there or the manufacturer’s web sites.
FWIW, there are really only a few companies that print catalogs and they sell them to small distributors with the distributors covers on them. Riten, Collis Tool and Morse, make, supply or import dead centers. Motor Tool Mfg Co. may be able to make or supply one also. Of course, there are also companies like Small Parts that specialize in equipment for making small projects and magazines for small projects that have ads for supplies.
Henry in MI
If you want to put the dado across the face of the board and relatively close to the end, you use the router table’s fence as a way to measure where you want to go and the same way you use a table saw’s fence to make a dado or rabbitt. Use the fence and a block of scrap wood clamped to the fence, with your sliding miter gage, to line up where the board is to go to put the dado in the right place. DO NOT run the end of the board to the fence as you likely will get very dangerous kickback. Just use the fence as a way to locate the position to hold the board against the miter gage. I would run this in 2 passes with either an upcut spiral cutter or a straight bit of a width to cut the dado width. For the depth of the first pass, I would take a little more than half the dado depth and finish the depth with the second pass.
If the dado is to go toward the middle of the length of the board, I would not run it on the table. If you have to make several boards with the same dado, clamp them together so you have a wide surface to set the router on as you make the cut. If you don’t need but one board with the dado, you still want to clamp enough other 5/4 boards together across their faces to get a wide surface to set the router on as you run to a straight board clamped to the top as a fence.
That is how you can make your cuts using a router but I would use either a table saw or a circular saw to cut the dado in several passes. Don’t run tight to a fence if you do use a table saw because of the danger of kickback.
Henry in MI
Aloha, it can be done but it is not something that someone with little experience in refinishing should attempt. Sanding through the veneer and veneer separation during preparation are common problems, even for the pros. If you have an old piece with veneer that is fairly thick and well attached, you might have a reasonable chance. If you have a newer piece with thin veneer, it’s very difficult.
You might check with a pro though as their might be somethings that could be easily done to make the bed match better with your other furniture. Knowing where and how to get some supplies and how to color match are important factors.
Henry in MI
Spiral stairs are a very sophistocated structure to design and build, let alone be sure that they meet code. This is an area where, if you have to ask if it can be done, you probably can’t. There are suppliers who offer kits designed to meet your needs and requirements for stairs but have you thought about how you are going to close off and insulate the entrance to the attic? Attics are dry but uninsulated spaces open to outside air. Insulation is usually between the attic floor and the interior room ceiling. If you want to leave an opening to the attic from the house, you have to insulate the roof and have air passages under the roof to remove any condensation–like what a cathedral ceiling has. If you don’t already have this and you plan to leave the top of the stairway open to the attic, you better add a lot of money for new insulation and changing the roof venting.
Henry in MI
