From Reddit, follow link to read comments there:
I’m currently trying to restore a heavily weathered pine table and benches set bought on Facebook marketplace. Pretty certain it’s just been sat outside in rainy England for years and never had an finish applied.
I’ve been sanding for maybe 5 hours using 60 grit and a Bosch PSS 230 orbital sander, but I just cannot tell if it’s going right and if I’m doing it correctly so I have a few questions.
Does sanding really take this long? If so, this is way more boring than I thought it would be. How do I know when I’ve removed enough of the weathered top layers and am ready to move on to 120 and then oil? Is sanding the legs and underside necessary for the oil to be effective at protecting it?
Keen to get this finished over the next couple of days before it starts raining again here!
I'm not a woodworker, but this is the kind of stuff I often tackle, and this is what I would do.
Similar to what I do with my decks, fill my bug sprayer with water, bleach, and a squirt of Dawn and spray it. Get all surfaces, top and bottom. Soak for a few minutes and hit it with my pressure washer. That will get rid of any mold, mildew, and funk. Let dry.
Hit the top of the table and benches with a belt sander. Do the edge boards on the top last to get the sandpaper scratches oriented properly. I like the rustic and primitive look, and it's an outdoor picnic table, so trying to pretty-up anything beyond the top surfaces is overkill IMO.
Looks to be some splits in some of the top boards. Mix some of the sawdust that hasn't made its way into my lungs with wood glue and fill. Or maybe fill with bright blue epoxy to make a mini River Table!
Once I have decided the top of the table and benches are sufficiently smooth as to not give me splinters in my arse and elbows, I'd blow it with compressed air and ponder what kind of finish to put on it. Maybe wander over to Russ's Corner to see if he has any advice.
Of course, I'd probably ignore any advice there and just do like we did on the farm growing up--slather it with used motor oil using a floor mop and old underwear rags. The oil from our Farmall Super M with bad rings would give it a beautiful dark patina. Not to mention stains and carcinogens to anyone who sat on it with white pants.
But it appears to be treated lumber, so maybe it's OK to just leave it as is. This would free up more of my time to watch Taylor Swift videos.
So, in contrast to my approach, what would people who actually know what they are doing do to refurbish this?