Question: I have a dresser that needs the top refinished. It is 76″ X 20″. Do we have someone here in our community that I could hire to do this work or could you refer a company that does this kind of work? I would truly appreciate it because there are few companies that do this kind of work today.
Answer: This is a tough question. We have rules against finishing of furniture in the wood shop to avoid spills and noxious odors. There is also a fire hazard with some oil based finishes. Members that need to do finishing do it at home, usually in the garage in the warmer months.
Staining is the most difficult part of finishing wood. It is used to darken a light wood or to make different woods match in color in a piece of furniture. It is usually a trial and error process with various mixtures of various colors of stain. This is not something that most amateur woodworkers do very often, so they are not skilled in this part of the finishing process.
Most of us that build furniture choose a wood that when finished with a clear finish have the desired color and graining. For example, we use walnut or cherry for a dark color, and we use maple or oak for a light color.
I do not know of any of our members that do furniture refinishing as a business. You really need a professional company that does this type of work every day and has a good inventory of the necessary materials. I Googled “furniture refinishing – Chicago area” and more than a dozen companies came up.
Question: We own a Fox model here and our switch is not turning on the front outdoor lights. We have power to the switch, but it seems like there is no power going out. The front porch lights, the garage outdoor lights, and the emergency blinker does not work. Have you heard of this before?
Answer: I assume you have checked the bulbs. It sounds like you have an open circuit between the switch and the lights. If it was a short, it would blow the circuit breaker. All of the wires are in conduit so it is easy remove the faulty wiring and pull new wires. This is a job for a licensed electrician.
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them toask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com.
