Easier Ways to Paint or Stain a Wooden Picnic Table

Most of us have seen those old and grey wooden tables that you can tell were put in decades ago. In heavy rain areas, it could be a month old and start looking this way. If your wooden picnic tables are starting to look like this, there are some things that you can do. If you are putting in a wooden table, there are some things that you can do to keep your table from ever looking like this. These methods are very easy and rather inexpensive. It is certainly cheaper to refinish your current table than to get a new one.

There are many people that will just paint over the table and call it at that, but there is a little more to this process than that. To truly fix your old picnic table, you will need to get every inch of the table repaired. The only way to do this is to completely dismantle the table. Before you just go to town with a pry bar, you need to prep the table. This is one of the easiest things to do though. The first step is to draw a diagram of the table and number each plank so that you can easily put it back together. You may want to mark it in a spot that will be covered once it is put back together or use masking tape. You can also put the pieces in like piles if you don't want to mark them. Since the top planks are interchangeable as well as the legs, you can separate the boards into piles and easily keep tabs on where they go when putting it back together. Once you have decided on how to take it apart, now you can take it apart. You want to be cautious with this step so you do not damage the wood and have to replace the boards anyways. Do not worry about saving the nails. Nails should not be reused since they can bend and warp easily as well as crack the wood. You may want to consider using screws. This will make it easier if you ever have to refinish the table again.

Now that all the pieces have been pulled apart, you can start refinishing the wood. You will need to sand away the outside layer. This old and grey wood that is splintered and cracked is no good anymore. You need to get rid of it. If you just paint over it, your table will still look old and worn. You will want to sand down until you get to a wood look again. If it takes too much sanding and you never get to good wood, a refinish may not be enough for your table. Any boards that do get too thin in the sanding process can be replaced easily at this point. All you will need to do is cut it to size and smooth it up a bit. Once your wood is ready, you can now add your stain. If you are going to paint the table, you will want to weatherproof the wood first and then paint over that.

Once your table is your desired color, whether it be stain or paint, you will want to weatherproof your table. You can find a number of clear coats out there as well as some specific weather proofing compounds. You need to get several layers of this clear coat on the table to make sure it can survive the elements. This table will have to stand up to snow, rain, and several other weather occurrences. You will need to make sure it is protected. Let all these coats of paint and varnish dry overnight and then you can continue. After everything is done being touched up, you can start to reassemble the table. If you marked everything in the beginning, this step should be quite easy. If not, you will have to try and piece it back together. You don't need to glue the joints together and if you do, it will make the next refinishing job much more difficult.

That is all there really is to making your wooden picnic table look new again. Instead of having to buy a new table, you can just fix the one that you have. For the cost of a can of stain, some varnish, and a box of screws, you can have a beautiful new (looking) wooden picnic table. It is fairly simple and just about anyone can handle this project.