First woodworking project; restoring these cool drawers. Would appreciate some advice on how to begin!
Hi all,
I'm starting my first ever woodworking project, restoring this cool set of drawers we found in our neighbourhood while walking the pupper. While I grew up watching The New Yankee Workshop and This Old House I've never actually undertaken a sort of maker project. This project is entirely for my own edification and I'm starting at zero in terms of tools and equipment, so everything suggested will be taken into consideration.
My intent is to just clean this up, re-finish it, throw on some legs, and replace the handles. No structural work, not adding or subtracting anything, just cosmetic to start. Future projects will get into more serious work.
So I have some questions I would be very grateful for some guidance on;
How do you tell what wood something is made of? WIth my limited knowledge I have guessed the frame is either Oak or Maple, and the drawers/shelves are either Cherry or Rosewood. I've added some pictures of the endgrain as I assume the grain and weight and density and such is how you often tell, and even then I'm willing to bet some woods can be tricky and be mistaken for others.
What is the difference between stains, oils, lacquers, varnishes etc... and what determines which you use? Does specific wood require one vs another, or is it entirely cosmetic? Can they all be removed and can they also all be reapplied?
On the bottom of the unit it looks like they used some MDF? Is that right? Or is it particle board? Same thing? Why would they use just a few pieces on this thing that otherwise is incredibly heavy and solid? Is it because the bottom is most likely to get damaged?
Finally, how would you approach restoring this piece to your standards?
Any other information you think may be useful would be incredibly helpful, thank you for your help!