How to Seal Raw Wood Antique Furniture in 4 Easy Steps
How to Seal Raw Wood Antique Furniture
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One of my very favorite ways to finish furniture is to seal raw wood without stain. I love a neutral furniture look, and some of these antique furniture pieces on Facebook Marketplace are really just asking to be cleaned up and shown off. There is a ton of potential right in your neighbor’s garage.
Here is my process for prepping and sealing raw rood antique furniture, along with other tips and tricks that should help you get your raw wood furniture looking great!
1. First, clean the furniture with warm soapy water to avoid any nasty particles in the air when you are sanding.
2. Use a stripping spray to get any hard-to-reach areas the big electric sander can’t get to. You can skip this step if there are no hard-to-reach areas. This step has to happen before the sanding so that the raw wood color doesn’t get an uneven bleach.
3. Sand the furniture on all sides and in all crevices. I use this electric sander. This is the most important step seal raw wood furniture. Make sure the color looks even and that there aren’t any weird spots.
The trickiest thing about sealing raw wood furniture is that there is no way to hide mistakes. With any other technique, you would be able to cover or blend things with paint or stains. If anything, mistakes will be highlighted once you add the Polycrylic. Make sure that you have a fresh and clean surface that you want to show off before sealing. If you got this far in the blog, but were planning on putting new stain on your furniture, check this out.
4. Time to seal it! I use matte polycrylic for raw wood furniture projects, but you can use whichever sheen you prefer. Be aware, that adding the polycrylic straight to the wood will warm up the color of the grains and highlight any knots in the wood.
To avoid the polycrylic changing the natural color, and to keep the neutral color of the wood, you can do a white stain to counter the effects. Usually, the poly will add a hint of warmth, so the white will neutralize it again.
That’s it! Step back and style and admire your work!