Do you want to own oak bedroom furniture on a budget? It is possible, though not by buying them from furniture stores. First off, you need to be comfortable with the idea of buying and repairing secondhand furniture. This is not as outlandish as it may seem – modern power tools make carpentry fairly simple as long as you are willing to spend the time and effort doing the work. You also need to be prepared to read the instruction sheets or manual that come with the tools and equipment you will need. We will describe some of the basic repairs that you will need to do when buying used oak furniture, and briefly explain how to do them.
Before that, you will need to know where you can buy used oak bedroom furniture. The answer is simple – garage sales, eBay (as usual), Craigslist, the junk yard. Now, what kind of damaged furniture should you avoid? The most obvious is furniture that shows signs of rot, insect infestation (it does not matter whether the insects are termites or lice, avoid it anyway), mold or fungus. These are all signs that the wood is not real oak, or the furniture has been too badly abused to be good candidates for repair. Apart from this, major breakage where you need to replace significant portions are also not worth it.
So what kind of damage is worth fixing? Scuffs, scratches, even deep gashes and chipped parts are fine. So are shaky or loose joints (even if the entire leg or legs have fallen off the bed). Even split or broken boards may be okay, depending on which part got split.
Repairing scratches, deep gashes and chipped parts
The basic ingredient to repair this kind of damage is the wood putty. Different brands have different instructions, so be careful to read what the manufacturer says. Basically, after you mix the putty, fill it into the scratch, gash or gap (or the place where the oak wood is chipped off). Smoothen it or shape it as needed. Let it harden. Done.
Repairing shaky/loose joints
You will need a power drill and Kreg jig for this. Both tools are quite cheap to buy, or you can borrow from a neighbor. Depending on the joint, you may also need a clamp. The basic procedure is to make sure the two parts of the joint are firmly held together. Use the Kreg jig and drill to create a pocket hole joint (instructions come with the Kreg jig, or you can look up the details on the internet). Put in the screw and plug up the hole. Done.
Repairing split/broken boards
This repair is a bit more involved. You will need a multitool, something like the Fein Multimaster or one of its cheaper clones. If you are good at carpentry, you could use something else, but then you would not be reading this article, right? Anyway, you will also need a good super glue, and a lumber supplier willing to sell you replacement boards of the right size and shape. The replacement board should be oak, but any other hardwood, or even a softwood will do the job (if you do not need perfection). The procedure is as follows:
- Use the cutting attachment of the Fein Multimaster (E-blade or its equivalent) to cut out the split board
- Trim the replacement board to fit
- Glue the replacement in place
The above are the basic repairs. Not too difficult, right? But before that, there is one important task you need to do – that is to strip away the old varnish or paint. The easiest way is to use the sanding attachment of your power tool. Use the coarsest sandpaper at the start, then switch to a medium sandpaper once you have most of the paint/varnish off.
Once you complete your repairs, you need to re-finish your repaired oak furniture. Once again, you need the sanding attachment. Use a fine grade sandpaper, and maybe switch to an ultra-fine grade at the end. If your repair work is very visible, you should paint your furniture. If the repairs are not obvious, or somewhere not visible, you can apply a stain to highlight the grains of the oak wood, and then varnish or wax.
As you can see, repairing and refurbishing oak furniture for your bedroom is not difficult. You probably will not be able to get complete oak bedroom furniture sets, but you should still be able to pick up some very good bargains on high quality furniture.
