I have a free dining room set. It is cherrywood?

Kathy Gilmore
by Kathy Gilmore
I would like to strip the wax off and apply about six coats of polyacrylic to the table. Will this work. I want to be able to eat of it and not ruin the surface. I don't want to use coasters and place mats. What do you think? We have always applied a table pad and table cloth.

  5 answers
  • A A on Jul 26, 2017

    I might be missing something but I doubt that the finish is wax. If you strip the finish off, you will probably have to strip the entire surface. You can then finish it any way you like. Just be sure to give the poly adequate time for curing or you will have marks from whatever you set on it. Good luck!

  • Suzette Suzette on Jul 26, 2017

    Hi Kathy, Here's a good video on how to polyurethane wood!


    Good luck!

  • Lorraine Johnson Lorraine Johnson on Jul 26, 2017

    That should work, but I would lightly sand it first, then again between coats. Happy painting!

  • Cathy Dillon Cathy Dillon on Jul 26, 2017

    I imagine the Cherry wood is really quite nice. I refinished a dresser and the tops of some other furniture using FORMBY's. The removal process is rubber gloves and brillo steel wool some rags. spomnges .lots of ventilation in newspapers in the area.. and extra xylene which evaporates very quickly, You need a lot of rags/ sponges.

    But this took off the old finish and left me with a smooth surface to work with. I used regular polyurethane and probably did three coats with about a day inbetween each coat. The stripping is messy, but it is not like the heavy duty paint strippers that bubble up and leave the wood raw.

  • Hillela G. Hillela G. on Jul 27, 2017

    A couple coats of varathane will do the job.