Hi everyone,I've been a lurker for a while and now I finally feel ready to step out of the shadows with a very small project, but after too much Googling, I'm afraid I'll be needing your advice.I want to beautify an old piece of furniture. It has several issues. It has a few splits and I can't tell if one of them is intentional, and moisture/water damage on top of it. My goal is simply to beautify/restore it a bit and - if possible - I want to protect it from moisture.I have no idea the type of wood I am dealing with, or whether or not it's painted/varnished into its current color.Here are some images that are hopefully useful.My tasks and challenges in the order I plan to finish them:Cleaning and sanding the surface / preparing it for varnish: First, I will clean it with some rubbing alcohol and then sand with first with low grit then high grit sanding paper until I get an even and smooth surface. I read conflicting info on how to clean it beforehand, what is your opinion?Mending the splits: I aim to use some type of glue or epoxy that should not be visible. What do you recommend I use here, I feel some sort of transparent epoxy would work best. What is the gold standard here?Varnishing: This is where it gets hard because there are so many opinions floating out there. I want to keep it rather simple if possible and I would like the finish to be matte, somewhat like its current look. Now, it's my understanding that any type varnish already protects fairly well against moisture, increasing in effectiveness with more layers.2-3 layers of clear water-based polyacrylic varnish. Water-base is faster drying, so I hope to only wait 3 hours between coats.Finishing varnish. Is it necessary to get a special one for this final layer if I like the look of the clear base varnish? Either way, I'll hold off buying anything for this step until 24h after the last base coat.I will use protective gloves for the varnishing part and apply varnish along the grain of the wood.Please comment if I am far off base here or if you have any general advice for a complete beginner.Basically, do you approve of my "recipe"?Thanks for reading! via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2KIw07m
