Varnishing pine?

bouicca21

With any luck I will finally move into a place of my own in a few months time. While I have been camping out in rented I have bought a few bits of secondhand pine furniture from ebay. They have a sort of silk finish, and the tops are marked (presumably spillages and hot mugs). I need to decide whether to keep them or freecycle and get new. The coffee/lamp table is actually quite nice, apart from being pine.

So how would I go about re varnishing them? Strip the existing finish with nitromors? Is it possible just to strip the top and leave the rest? What sort of varnish to use? The existing varnish is a sort of warm golden colour - the sort that makes no pretence of being anything other than pine. How easy is it for a novice to apply?

StuC75

Normally I would look to sand down and re-varnish, as this can give a neater finish.. But that's because have the necessary tools to hand..

googler

I've just recoated a door with an original satin varnish/woodstain finish. I got a coloured gloss varnish from B&Q, along with some sugar soap wipes.

Wiped down, left to dry for 10 mins, single coat of the coloured varnish and looks as good as new.

Try the sugar soap/varnish first. If it doesn't cover the marks, lightly sand the top, and repeat.