craftgrrl | Year long coffee table refinish

So this is a continuation of This post.

Which if you don't feel like going back to it here's the basic gist:

I found a really stellar solid oak coffee table in a dumpster one day. But it needed work.
The top had water damage, one of the sides had been dragged on the concrete, and the drawers were not only crooked, but popped out when you walked by it.
And it was missing a pull knob on one of the drawers.

So I pulled the drawer runners out with the intention of replacing them, only to find they just needed to be put back on straight

I replaced the knobs with nicer metal ones.

And I puttied any damages in the table.

Then I messed up.

After attempting to sand the top finish off with a sander, I got impatient, and didn't feel like dealing with the dusty mess it was making in my house (I can't take it outside as it's solid oak, almost as big as me, and I live on the third floor with no elevator)

I thought just restaining the sanded bits to match the rest and then covering it all in Marine Varnish would do.

I was wrong.

It looked spotty and awful. And not in the kitchy distressed way. More the 'bad refinishing job' way.

So, a year passed.

And I decided to try again, this time taking my time.

First I stripped the whole thing.

This took a few hours.

Then I distressed it, as it already had some dings from it's life before me.
I hit it with a metal chain belt, and a stainless chainmaille collar I need to finish. Then I flung coffee grounds at it, and left those to dry over night.

I also filled the strange lines in the top with wood putty. As the only purpose they served was to collect dust and crumbs which was gross.

The next day, I vaccumed all the grounds off and applied the first layer of stain.
A water based stain in a raspberry color.
I hate water based stain.
Especially on oak, as it just beads up.

But I liked the color, and wanted a base coat for the next step. So I persevered, with only a minimum of cussing.

Then I waited several hours before applying a second coat of stain.
This time an oil based stain in a mahogany red.

Then I waited for that to dry overnight.

The next morning I then coated it in 2 layers of a semi gloss oil based varnish.
Sanding in between.

And voila!