Goodbye Orange Oak - Part 2 Table

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This is Part 2 of saying 'Goodbye Orange Oak'. In Part 1 I shared how I gel stained the chairs. In this post, I'll be sharing the process of staining the table. In case you missed Part 1...

Goodbye Orange Oak - Part 1 Chairs - Gel Stain

This is the dining set I picked up on Facebook Market. I wasn't sure I liked the table, but it grew on me and now we love it!

This is a good size table, even without the leaf in. I'm not sure what was spilled on the table, but it took the finish completely off. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I ended up sanding the entire top, taking off all of the stain and finish.

Just so you know, everything I did to this table, I also did to the leaf for it. I wanted them to match exactly when used.

First up... sand.... sand... and more sanding...

I went through a ton of sanding disks. It just take time and patience. But as you can see on the right side of the table... it's getting there. Yes, I could have used a chemical stripper.... I just didn't feel like it on this project. Either way it's going to be work.

Once I got the table top completely sanded down, I was ready to stain. The sides/edges of the table only got a light sanding. I wasn't sure if it would accept the stain, but in the end it worked out fine.

For the table base, I treated it like the dining chairs. A light sanding, then 2 coats of the General Finishes Gel Stain in Antique Walnut.

I wiped down everything with a tack cloth, then apply Minwax wood conditioner. The plan was to apply a quick light coat of Minwax Classic Gray to tone down the "red" in the oak. Then proceed with Minwax Provincial.

It looks pretty good with just the wood conditioner.

Then I added the Classic Gray.... not quite what I wanted...

At this point I was a little concerned.... it was starting to turn orange again... But sticking to the plan, I forged ahead with the Provincial stain.

This is not the direction I wanted to go... Okay, time to change plans. I looked to see what I had on hand. I found a can of Minwax Espresso. At this point what have I got to lose??

Okay... this is pulling a little more brown. That's good, but now I want it deeper because it's still wwaaaayyyy too orange/red for me.

I was wracking my head trying to figure out what to do... So to make it deeper and darker without the red... I went with Minwax Ebony. ( I bought it at Lowes, Amazon only has a gallon size of it.)

This is where I forgot to keep taking photos... Ugh! I put 2 coats of ebony on the table and the leaf and it turned out this dark. I love it!! No more red/orange!! Yay!!

The last step in the staining process was to apply a clear coat. I tried a new one and I LOVE it! It is General Finishes Gel Top Coat. The finish was satin. It is EASY to apply. It's different because it's kind of thick, but thin coats is the key. It really helps to have light hitting at an angle so you can see where you've applied, you really need that with applying any clear coat.

Once the table top was done, we brought it in and set it upside down on our previous table. This new table didn't have any sort of locks underneath to keep it together or to install the leaf. We added them on our previous table, so we kind knew what we were doing. These are the table locks we purchased on Amazon.