I had this old bench I made back when farmhouse was cool. I made it out of some reclaimed beams and finished it with milk paint, distressed it and waxed. Well, it just wasn’t doing it for my anymore… so time for a furniture flip! Or let’s upcycle this bench into a more modern and textured piece!

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You guys know I love power carving and texture on wood and I think adding some texture and a new finish will really give this piece life. So, I started with a 4” Saburrtooth donut wheel disc in Whisper Grit (white). These are new and coming out in October 2021. When I started it was taking the finish off perfectly, but it was a little bit slower than I would like and I need to remove the paint from the entire bench, so I switch to a 4” Saburrtooth donut wheel disc in Fine Grit (yellow) that really sped up the process.

WHISPER Grit carving burrs are AWESOME. Use code AWESOMEORANGE10 to get 10% OFF!

Watch Me Carve This Piece On My YouTube Channel!

I also used a smaller long and skinny burr in coarse grit that I had to get into the grooves and edges of the bench. And that worked super fast.

Also, I’d to note that when power carving it is messy! Think sawdust everywhere. So, I recommend doing it outside or finding a way to collect the dust. And I recently got this dust scoop and was able to to hook it up to my dust collector. It worked well… not perfect, but so much better than nothing. And it allowed me to stay out of the heat and carve indoors.

Once all the paint was off I went back over the bench with the 4” donut while in Whisper grit again. I did this because I wanted to refine the texture. Using the whisper grit burr takes off less material, which means less sanding in the end.

Then after a little sanding to just knock down any sharp edges, I went on a finishing journey. I say journey because it was full of learning experiences and didn’t go as I planned.

Since the bench was made out of fir and had a red tone to it I decided to bleach it. I have never used wood bleach before but it was super simple. I used a two part bleach… you just mix the two parts together and brush it on. You do two coats of that and then the next day you brush it down with water to neutralize the bleach.

You might be thinking that the water with raise the grain on the piece… yes it does. But I wouldn’t recommend sanding the fuzzies away because the bleach really only bleaches the top layer of the wood. Instead I would recommend sealing it with a water based polyurethane or polycrylic and then sanding after each coat you apply to that to get a smooth feel. I eventually did this, but not before….

I waxed it. Yup, after bleaching the wood I put a clear wax on it thinking it would be clear. NOPE! It made the bench yellow and highlighted the grain of the fir. Definitely not the look I was going for. So, I then proceeded to remove the wax using a furniture refinisher. You basically rub it on it melts the wax and then you wipe it off.

I want to note that before I removed the wax, I thought about putting a liming wax over it to white the wood back up. And it did slightly work, but since this piece was smooth and had close grain it didn’t work well and that is why I decide to remove the wax altogether.

Then with the wax gone, it didn’t 100% go back to the original bleached wood look. So, I decided to stain it in an antique white color. This worked great, because unlike the liming wax it soaked into all parts of the wood. Then after the stain was dry I sealed it with several coats of a matte water based polyurethane.

Stain in antique white for the final look.

I told you the finishing process was a journey, but in the end I am happy with how the bench turned out. And I love the texture!!! You look at it from different directions and it kinda morphs or can even look like stone! So fun.

AFTER! What a journey, but I love how it turned out.

If you have never power carved something, starting with upcycling a old piece of furniture is a great place to start. Just add some texture and transform the piece! And if you completely mess it up… you were gonna get rid of the piece anyway.