Dust furniture to minimize abrasive dust, Furniture Refinishing equipment

How to dust furniture to minimize abrasive dust.

We used some pretty inexpensive furniture refinishing equipment that some thought was kind of primitive.

All of our refinishing was done by hand with no stripper sprays or dipping furniture in vats of paint and finish stripper to minimize the negative effects on furniture joints and joined boards.

Dust furniture to minimize abrasive dust

Avoid dry cloth when you dust

Avoid using a dry cloth when you dust furniture, because dust is abrasive and you can leave very fine scratches in the finish.

Use a damp cloth

Use a damp cloth first, water not only holds the dust in the cloth, but it acts as a lubricant to keep the abrasive dust from scratching. After the dust is picked up you can wipe and buff with a soft dry cloth.

Quikwood Epoxy Putty Stick | Sculpwood | Mr. Grip Furniture Repair Kit

Avoid spray polish

We've always avoided using spray polishes or spray furniture dusting aids as the generally contain silicone to make the shine by filling in all nooks and crannies, but they're what make the streak marks when you run your finger across a piece of furniture. The sprays will hold dust too and will cause a buildup over time.

Furniture refinishing equipment

Our furniture refinishing equipment was quite primitive

Most of our refinishing equipment was thought to be quite primitive by most refinishers, especially those with flow systems and other such amenities, but our first thought was what was best for the furniture we worked on, rather than what we could do to make our lives softer and the least you can do with the least amount of chemicals to accomplish your goal is best for the furniture. Of course we made it as soft as we could under those circumstances. Not counting tools, I think our most expensive furniture refinishing equipment was large stainless steel mixing bowls, 18 inch and 12 inch. The stainless steel was easy to keep clean and would last for years.

I made tables and cut round openings in them just smaller than the widest part of the bowls and set the bowls in them. We kept stripper in the bowls and had just enough table top space to work on small pieces of furniture, drawers and other small things. The rest was done on the floor.

Thrift stores for necessary refinishing equipment

Thrift stores are the best place to find most of the other necessary refinishing equipment, like cookie sheets, small metal pails (lots of them with sea shells and shovels in the kids section), brushes of various sorts and anything else that looks like it would work and be handy. If you buy things with painted decoration remove the decoration before you use them so that you don't get paint flecks from your equipment.

Paint brushes

Used paint brushes

If you buy used paint brushes for use in removal or use some old brushes you have around make sure there aren't any paint flecks in them.

Never use used paint brushes for clear finish

Never use used brushes for final clear finishes, unless you bought it new and then only used it for clear finishes. If a paint brush has been used for paint, no matter how well you clean it, there's always one fleck of paint that will end up in the middle of your new clear finish.

Another plus of used stuff is that when it gets gucky and it will get gucky, you can get rid of it responibly and get more.