I really should have called this project
the mid-century modern mishap that's
exactly what happened have you ever done
a DIY project and you've had high hopes
that it would turn out amazing only to
end up disappointed well stick around
guys I'm going to show you how I was
very disappointed with this twenty-five
dollar makeover from the thrift store
with this mid-century modern dresser
here it is hey guys what's up Sarina API
here from thrift Ivankov you know I
never have anybody watching you so
[Applause]
and today we are working on this amazing
mid-century modern dresser guess what we
are not painting this we are stripping
and we're going to use tung oil stick
with me because I'm going to show you
how to do it before we jump into this
project guys I want to tell you you can
get all the materials down below in the
description so go ahead and click that
if you have a question about anything I
use now you have to get yourself a tarp
all right
this is a very messy job guys stripping
furniture is not clean so wherever your
stripping whether it's in your garage
your driveway wherever make sure that
you've got something underneath to
capture all that gunk because you will
drop some stuff now I've been using a
soy-based stripping gel I really like it
because it doesn't have that really
strong odor it's a little bit more
environmentally friendly so you just
want to apply one coat let it set for
about 15 minutes and then take an old
box put that gunk in there and make sure
that you're using a putty knife that
does not have sharp edges because if you
do you'll gal'd your wood all right then
you're going to create extra work for
yourself so go ahead and just scrape it
off into the box most likely you're
going to have to do two coats so go
ahead apply the second coat in the same
way that you did the first coat let it
set for about 10 to 15 minutes and then
just scrape it off and you'll see a lot
of it will come off it's not going to be
totally bare but you know there will be
some sanding that we do in a moment and
just make sure that you use an after
wash I don't show that here in the video
but it actually helps to remove a lot of
the residue that's left over so you know
it's a process it's definitely not a
one-day project
I stripped the drawers the same way
apply it let it sit for about 10 to 15
minutes and then scrape it off you want
to make sure that you are wearing sick
chemical resistant gloves you do not
want this stuff on your hands at all so
we are sanding these drawers today and I
am starting with 120 grit sandpaper and
let me tell you I have been making a
huge mistake
while I'm standing I didn't realize that
I was moving a little too fast with my
sander so I did learn recently when you
used an orbital sander you have to go
slow about an inch per second so we're
going to slow it down so we don't get
those little swirly marks they call them
pigtails so you can see here I let the
sander do all the work I didn't push
down I didn't force it I just let it go
and also needed to sand the tops of the
drawers because those also needed
sanding and I really took my time with
sanding because I wanted a great finish
so you can tell the ones that had been
sanded how beautiful the wood grain was
coming through and I just really wanted
it to look as great as possible so I
even took the time to sand the size of
the drawers which is crazy but they were
trying to stain so it needed it I got to
do my 220 sanding and I'm going to do
that by hand because after I use my
orbital sander I really should do my
last pass with my hands I'm going to use
220 and I'm going to just start we're
going to start out right down here and I
need my mud my dust mask you have to
wear a dust mask because if you don't
you could die literally die
so this is where the first problem
occurred thankfully there was an easy
solution so as I started to sand the
front of the dresser I realized that
there was no veneer on the front of the
director which means whatever oil I put
on the front of the dresser was not
going to match the top and the side so I
knew that I was going to have to find
some sort of gel stain or something in
order to get that to blend in so once it
was all sanded I went ahead moved it
outside started doing some sanding to
get all of that nasty stain brown off of
the the wood and I would figure out how
was going to fix the front considering
that it did not have any linear so in
the meantime I just went ahead and i
speeded this up here so it didn't take a
lot of time but you can see how the
sanding removed a lot of that previous
stain and there were some parts where I
see even after just doing a pass or two
with the sander it would it would just
wouldn't come out so I took my sander
and of course I sped it up for you do
not go too fast but you'll see this
little mark there is starting to come
out so you just have to be very careful
because when you're on a veneer you
don't want to ruin the veneer and I
actually had to turn the furniture on
its side it was very difficult trying to
sand the size of furniture especially
you know being so close to the ground so
I was able to move it over onto its side
and sometimes I even had to lift it up
and just position it in this weird way
so be very careful but this actually
worked very well for me I did all my
final sanding with 220 grit sandpaper
using nice long strokes and at the end
of it I was a mess guy we are on day
three of this project we are just so
close we are like right at the end now
we're going to mix together the tung oil
and the mineral spirits so the first
coat we have to do 50/50 mix and let
that dry for 24 hours and then we're
going to do just one more coat or you
can do more coats of the Tong oil so
let's go ahead and mix it together I've
already given it a little shake just to
make sure it's you know it's not all
settled to the bottom
the mineral spirits and a little creamy
I think this should be okay I think we
put about half and half I'm a little
scared it's been a while since I've done
this and I just hope it doesn't ruin
this and you know what I ever write to
be nervous because something happened
with the finish of this mid-century
modern dresser and I don't know exactly
what I followed all the instructions I
let the tung oil sit on there for about
10-15 minutes and wiped it off gently
and I was feeling pretty positive about
how this project was going the wood was
looking amazing and I even had some
little visitors from some cicadas that
were not supposed to come out of the
crown for another four years but while I
was out there they started making their
March as you can see there to the left
but I went ahead I applied the tung oil
mineral mineral spirits to the dresser
drawers wiped it off as I was supposed
to and I felt really great about this
project
so for the legs I went ahead and just
unscrewed them and I wanted a really
easy way to apply stripper to them to
apply stain without having to hold them
in my hand so I had a piece of scrap
wood I drilled some holes into it and it
was really easy for me to just pop those
legs in there
support them while I'm applying stripper
and I did use citrus drip for these I
ran out of the other stripping gel but
this worked just as well and then I used
some steel wool to remove a lot of that
finish and it worked really well around
curved edges and when it was time for me
to sand I gave it a very light sand with
150 grit sandpaper and then I used the
same little get up when I was applying
the gel stain now I used gel stain on
the legs because if I were to apply the
tung oil it was not the same wood as the
veneer so it would not have been the
same color but with the gel stain I
could easily get it on there and it
would match and I used 150 grit
sandpaper followed by 220 and I just
molded it to my thumb in order to get
into those curved areas now the gel
stain this was a blessing I just did a
little sample on the bottom to see if
this was going to solve the problem of
getting the front of that dresser to
match the rest of the dresser and sure
enough it actually was a pretty good
match so I went to hair it very
carefully applied the gel stain to all
of the edges that could not have veneer
and just wiped it off being very careful
I didn't get any of the gel stain on the
other parts of the veneer and I even did
the inside I know it's kind of crazy
some people don't want to spend that
much time doing the inside of a dresser
but I think it just makes it look more
finished so it was a great match and I
was very thankful that I was able to
find the perfect match so that it
blended in very nicely with the drawers
and the two sides in the front I also
did this for the drawers the tops of the
drawers of course we're not veneer so I
needed to make sure that those blended
it it was still a little lighter but it
was it was better than having it be bare
once the feet were dry I screwed them
back in and I was ready to lift the
dresser back up so that I could finish
off the sides and the top now this is
where things started
go bad unfortunately I did as much
sanding as I could I made sure that I
used nice long strokes and finish it off
with 220 grit sandpaper and so I applied
the mixture of tung oil and mineral
spirits you know just as I was supposed
to I let it set for 15 minutes and one
thing that I started to notice is that
the top didn't have that rich color that
the drawers had that was my main concern
but I went ahead and finished I did two
sides and wiped it off with some shop
towels and I'll just go see how it
looked
I liked the fact that it blended very
nicely with the Front's that I'd use the
gel stain so it wasn't going to be super
noticeable and this is where things got
really bad you can see the dresser
drawers are looking amazing but I
decided that I was going to speed things
up and just do maybe a few coats of a
oil-based polyurethane I applied it I
wiped it off very gently according to
the instructions on the back and when I
saw the color emerging I was excited I
thought hey this is the answer this is
what it's going to look like when it's
done it's gonna look beautiful and
that's not how it looked and the next
day when I came to look at it all I saw
were patches of dry area and then right
along the edges it looked horrible so I
was going to have to sand this back down
and the body of the dresser still only
had one coat of tung oil but it just
didn't pop the way I expected it to and
on top of that I started noticing all
these little imperfections that I really
thought I had sanded out but apparently
not so I decided maybe the answer is to
put another coat of tung oil on the body
and that's what I did I was feeling
really positive about it the color I
think it looked amazing I thought this
is going to work I think that I applied
the first coat incorrectly so there are
some parts that just really don't look
good I don't think that I was supposed
to wipe off good stuff so we're going to
go ahead and just put another coat we're
going to put the coat on with a foam
brush and just make sure it's nice and
smooth but first we're going to take
some scale
we'll very fine we're just going to sand
this out just a little bit and then to
another coat of the oil-based
polyurethane so we're almost done this
project and that's what I did so after
sanding it with some steel wool I
decided to use the applicator and I
thought this is the answer this is why I
didn't get good results I'll just do it
with the applicator and I'll follow the
instructions on the back and so I
decided that I was going to do it with
the top as well and the side of the
dresser
now the problem could be that maybe I
needed to leave the tung oil to dry for
much longer pure tung oil does take a
long time to dry and it can take maybe
up to a week and I know that there was
less than a week in between these coats
I also use the oil-based polyurethane
over the front where I use the gel it
has been a solid week since we've been
working on this dresser and I have to
tell you it didn't turn out the finish
looks horrible and now I have to figure
out how to finish this so it doesn't
look terrible and I even broke some of
the veneer so we're gonna have to glue
that back on
I'm over it oh right this project needs
to be done today well it is very clear
that I was just done with this project
you know I did add one to two coats of
 oil after I stand it is smooth and
it still ended up spotty it was not the
fix that I needed and I just didn't
happen in me to go through all the
sanding and refinishing again I just
didn't want to do it so the lesson here
is that not every DIY project is going
to turn out we would like to think that
everything turns out but a lot of times
you will have projects that something
goes awry just like this and the lesson
is that you learn from it right so the
lesson that I learned from this project
is that I probably should have just
stuck with the tung oil did several
coats and let it dry thoroughly which is
about a week before I even thought about
adding a topcoat then I probably when it
got better results but you know it's
done and we have to move on and you know
what I'm ready for the next project
bring on the next stripping job because
I'm sure it'll be even better than this
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and I'll see you next project