Don't feel bad. What you're trying to do does require a lot of finesse and without the experience it's a learning process for sure. If you can figure it out you'll definitely save some money. It's especially fun when you can go to a second hand store and find a great piece of furniture that's cheap and unwanted because the finish is in bad shape. Okay, so you're at the point of over sanding and cutting into the underlying stain. I'm assuming the color is different and it's not just the white haze caused by sanding on varnish? It's probably still possible to blend the lighter spots back in but I'm not sure you'd want to purchase the supplies to try the techniques out. I sometimes use touch up markers from a commercial finish supplier or raw pigments and dyes mixed with thinned shellac. You'd have to invest $50+ in supplies to attempt a technique that is difficult even for a pro and may fail and the supplies will likely go to waste afterwards. Now if I were working on that table, I'm guessing I'd be swinging into full strip and refinish mode. The reason is that you say your husband's poly is cloudy in spots. If that was there before you started sanding then it could be water damage. Otherwise, it's almost certainly an indication that the finish has separated from the surface below. Trying to finish over the top of that would be a waste of time. No, you don't have to sand all the finish off. It's also really difficult to sand off an old finish and end up with nice, even coloring afterwards. Using chemical strippers is a lot easier but also a little intimidating if you've not done it before. For starters, you need to do it outside because you don't have the equipment to ventilate the fumes. Secondly, you'll need to invest in $30 of gloves, scrapers, brushes and other supplies if you don't have them already. This will also remove most of the stain and require matching the new finish to the chairs. Your best bet is to first see if there's a reputable shop in your area that is setup with a flow-over strip system, outsource the stripping but do the refinish yourself. Chances are, it'll cost you almost as much to get supplies to get started with the chemicals as it will to pay a professional to do that part. If you do that job yourself, you'll need plastic drop cloth, heavy nitrile or neoprene gloves (probably multiple pairs unless you find the good ones), some scrub brushes, plastic putty knives and half a dozen pieces of Scotch Brite. That's in addition to the stripper and the solvent required to wash away the residue. I use methylene chloride stripper but it's potent stuff. Breathing it is bad and it will burn skin within seconds of contact. Plenty of ventilation is a must when using that and since some companies add flammable solvent to the mix, explosion-proof ventilation is a must. That means work outdoors or own professional finishing equipment. The citrus-based and soy based strippers work fine but are slower and in my experience, more expensive. 3M Safest Stripper is very slow but effective when used properly and can be used indoors. Downsides are water content will make the wood moist and it was more expensive than the others the last time I checked. If after reading that, you prefer the hard, dusty work of sanding, then my approach would be to get good coated (minimizes clogging) sandpaper from an automotive finish supplier and start with 80 grit on flat surfaces. Don't bear down on the paper, just use even, smooth strokes and let the paper do the cutting. Stop using the 80 as soon as the wood starts showing through and move to 100 to get most of the remainder off. 120 is good for cleaning off the last residue and you can jump to 220 to prepare for stain. Always sand with the grain of the wood. For profiles and other details, I'd not start below 150 grit. Be careful sanding on that top though. It may be a thin veneer so avoid removing any wood. and that's another reason I use chemicals instead of sandpaper.

Did I hear my name mentioned ? Let's be clear about one thing, lindac is NOT a professional finisher. Linda why would you use steel wool between coats ? A light "cut" with a worn piece of sandpaper does the job, no tack cloth needed. You called yourself an idiot not me. I don't like you because you run from forum to forum answering peoples questions like you are a Britanica Encyclopedia . Again, stick to what you know,it's clearly not wood types and how to refinish a piece of furniture. Every time I confront you , you run and hide. The last time you tried to upset me by posting my personal information to the forum, you were outed by half the members for setting up a fake screen name that was actually your son that you were using. Again, I can't sell what your claiming is the answer to my customers.You don't seem to understand that.I can't guarantee my work if I were to go the route you always suggest. Underneath that ladies ( you know the one)Walnut buffet and china is beautiful Walnut, why on earth would you want to leave it basically black with no ability to see the grain ? Try answering just one of my questions ? Like I said and have seen in the past, when confronted you run and hide.

Some photos would be helpful as "old worn look" is not specifically descriptive. Do you know what type of wood it is? I'd hold off on the steel wool. Some woods (for example oaks, that contain a lot of tannin), will react with the iron in the steel wool and leave black spots. First, your finish will never be better than your preparation. Just cleaning and sanding will not effectively remove the old finish, in general. And a finish will not smooth out a splintery surface. Second, be aware that most products called "Tung Oil Finish" are not tung oil, and most do not even contain any tung oil. Most are either a thinned varnish or a linseed oil-varnish blend. Unless it says 100% tung oil and contains no petroleum distillates, you are getting an imposter. Something that "looks sort of like tung oil." Tung oil, the real stuff, is not very protective and if you don't apply it right and allow sufficient inter-coat dry time, it will not look good and need to be stripped off. Varathane is a brand name, not a specific product. It's sort of like saying, should I buy a Chevy? Well are you talking about a Volt, a Corvette, or a cargo van? Varathane makes both urethane and acrylic (water-borne) varnishes, as well as stains and other things. It would also be helpful to know the look and feel that you are aiming for. Since we don't know that the current appearance is, it's hard to say what is going to change it.

Update: After doing more research on spar varnish and finding the post I will refer to below, I went to my local paint store and had a long talk with the owner about my project. I decided to go with minwax semigloss clear polyurethane and I was advised to use a lambswool device to apply the poly. Then I came home and read your recent posts, Richard - and yes, product I was talking of (the spar varnish) is a quality product but after more reading I just didn't feel right about using it on this table. I also found this thread on "woodjocks" website and found the discussion leading me towards poly even more. http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2565 So, I have a applied one coat of poly with the wool device. I am not sure how I feel about this wool idea - it seems to leave lint behind? I am thinking of switching to a brush, or to disposable foam brushes for the next 3 coats. Any advice on how to proceed from here onto my last coats of poly (even just some encouragement) is appreciated. I'm not sure how I like the semigloss finish - its nice, but I hope it will be waterproof and repellant to dinner sauces, wine, etc. I am also feeling concerned about my work environment. I am working in a free standing garage and the temps are supposed to dip down into 40s this week at night. Will that be a problem in between dry coats of poly? Here is a link that might be useful: thread on spar varnish I found