Rocking Chair Refinish

A few years ago, my aunt gave me a rocking chair that's been sitting in her house for years. It's very old and has a pressed wood design in the top. Apparently it was found by her ex-husband in some old house he was cleaning out, and he brought it home for her to use. She cleaned it up and refinished it. Years later, my cousin or somebody took it to school to use in a theater production (or something like that) and brought it home painted some hideous color. So, my aunt painted the whole thing white to sort of cover it up.

I decided to undertake the project of stripping and refinishing the chair. It's a great piece of furniture (solid wood and extremely well-made) and I would like for it to remain in the family forever. I wish I had a picture of it with the white paint...

Anyway, I started by using Citrustrip because I didn't want to work with something too harsh. A year or two ago I got most of the white paint off, but there were some stubborn spots. So this year I opted for the harsher stuff and went ahead and stripped the whole thing again. This time, with the aid of a brass wire brush, the old finish came out and so did the stubborn white paint. After some more sanding, a final rubdown with mineral spirits and a fine grade steel wool, and a careful once-over with a tack cloth, this thing was ready to be finished. Here it is pre-finish:

I decided to finish the chair with an oil finish (I used Watco Danish Oil, walnut color stain) because it's forgiving, quick, user-friendly, and more natural than something like polyurethane.

Here is the chair post-finish:

Once again, I wish I had a picture of it before. It truly is an amazing transformation. One of these days I'll sew a cushion for it, too.