re: Staining or finishing an antique wood piece? Bumped for advice.

Here is what I did. Did the mineral spirits thing to fade some of the excess.

Then I went over with a traditional "stain" a Minwax Red Mahogany. I liked both. So it will redden up the rosewood. And the stain is just easier?

Most important is make sure you got all the old varnish off. Wet the entire piece of furniture and look for blotches. If you see any, strip some more or use another solvent ( ex. denatured alcohol) to clean residual varnish.

If you do not take this step, then when you stain the stain will soak into the properly stripped areas and roll off the still sealed areas. I speak from experience.

You want to make sure all the wood accept the stain.

Also a good tip: mix the stripper with some saw dust. It is not as abrasive.

It may reactivate the heavy coat to even it out. If you try to apply poly right now you will probably make a mess. If you are really unhappy with it you can try a citrus based stripper, lightly sand and start over.

I am not a supported for using pre stain on hard wood or very old wood. The pre stain is for soft woods that are more sappy such as pine. On hardwoods with pre stain the stain comes out a lot lighter. Pre stain prevents the stain from soaking in deep and if it dries before you apply the stain you have to sand and start over.

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I hate to say it, but you made a big mistake stripping antique wood. Since this is just a sideboard and will not require frequent cleaning (such as a table), you should have just dusted it and applied Briwax, a British wax containing only beeswax, tolulene ( a solvent) and stain (coming in 4 colors-clear, pine, mahogany and walnut).

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The long life that sideboard has led? It needed stripping. This was not some pristine antique. the legs have been kicked a few million times and the top was etched with god knows what over decades. Grandmaw took care of it. She died in 1987. the sideboard did not take her death well, and did and saw things that needed to be stripped away.

Bottom line, I really enjoy this shite now and can see it as a hobby.

I am ABSOLUTELY interested in what you suggest for my Grandpaw's rocking chair. The wear pattern from his hand over 50 years and a few thousand cat naps is something I really want to preserve after restoration.

This sideboard was a piece that I did not expect to get, so I practiced with it.

I did learn one valuable thing. Stain is easier to work with than gel stain. Which I would not have guessed. applying poly will be a whole other disaster.