Dining Table, Chairs Should Be Refinished the Same Way

Question: I have an old cherry dining table and matching chairs that are in need of refinishing and a little repair. To save a little money, I was thinking of having the table done professionally but just having the chairs stripped, then finishing them myself. Can I make the chairs look like the table if I use the same stain and lacquer as the pros?

E.P.

Huntington Beach

Answer: “That’s not a good idea because you’ll never get it to match exactly,” says Bob Espeland of Espeland Furniture Repair & Antique Restoration in Orange. “The table will be stripped and the refinisher puts an oil color on, and then he puts three sealer coats on it and rubs those out. After that the finish coats are applied with a spray gun.

“At home the owner puts the right oil color on the chairs, but he’s probably not going to have the lacquer sanding sealer guns, or the guns for the finish coats. The result will be chairs that won’t match the finish of the table. I would suggest either doing them all professionally at the same time, or doing the chairs and the table yourself.”

Q: I would like to put a wood fence in my front yard with a gate at the driveway. What’s the best way to install the gate posts to make sure they’re straight and even?

S.N.

Orange

A: “As far as making sure the posts are the same height, you can find an inexpensive tool at hardware stores called a water level that will help you do the job,” says Craig Lefebvre of Orange Coast Hardwood and Lumber in Santa Ana. “The water level is a quarter-inch clear plastic tubing that you run between the posts. There are two vials of colored water at either end with level lines that you use to check that each is the same height.

“To make sure they’re standing straight, you can use a plumb bob, which is a steel weight attached to a string. You hold it up to the post and it points straight down, showing you if the post is leaning.”