furniture refinishing question

I'm sanding and (hopefully) refinishing a hickory coffee table, and I have a few questions-

First, as I sand I am having a hard time getting the dust completely off the surface. I assume that using a damp cloth would stain the bare wood, so what can I use to really clean the surface? Which brings me to the next quwstion- what do I do with this thing once I get all the old stuff off? Do I just stain it and then lay a few coats of polyurethane over it?

Thanks in advance for any advice- these forums are always such a huge help.
Jan

 

A damp cloth will raise the grain of the wood, and will have to be resanded anywho. Use a tack cloth. It's cheese cloth treated to feel tacky. Gets all the dust to stick to it. You can get some usually in the paint section of your closest home imp store.


Hickory is beautiful without stain and just clear coated. Wood will darken up considerably by just clear coating it. But if it's staining that you want, than yes, your sequence of stain and poly are correct. You may want to consider using a wood conditioner before applying the stain, and make sure the stain dries thoroughly before applying the poly.


I am going to move your thread into the wood finishing forum.

 

Thank You, Herm. I'll probably just clean it after sanding and put poly on to keep the natural finish.