Hiring a company to refinish, restore or modify existing church pews is likely a once in a lifetime experience for those tasked with the assignment.
In the course of the nearly 30 years of talking with church business administrators, priests, pastors, lay committee members or volunteers, there’s one story that often comes up.
“We called the local furniture stripper and when we talked to them about our pews- we got worried- so we kept looking.”
Those were the lucky ones.
I've heard many horror stories about the difficulties encountered when a church would mistakenly contract with a well-intentioned local who has never taken on a pew project before. Most of the time they find that the local furniture shop is unsure about how they would go about doing the work or how long it would take. This tends to create a lack of faith in their ability to execute the project in a timely and professional fashion.
And rightly so.
Furniture “stripping and refinishing” is a completely different trade. The equipment, process, scale and sequence of execution of their local furniture work is designed around dressers, wardrobes, tables, chairs and treadle sewing machines. The average church pew doesn't fit in the dip tanks they soak furniture in or on the “flow over” tables they use to strip finish. (And THAT harsh process is tremendously damaging to old wood- even solid wood). The awkwardness of the church pew size leaves them cussing and cursing as they attempt to handle the sometimes very heavy load. Most use high pressure water to blast off paste style strippers making quite a mess when the confines of their small booths are extended.
furniture companies can't refinish church pews
Furniture refinishers also don’t have an idea of the scale of the project. Thus they tend to price church pew refinishing/restoration in the same manner as they would furniture. They have no sense of an efficient process or sequence choosing to piecemeal the work over a long duration of time. Often they wildly overbid the work or, worse, underbid. Nothing is worse than a person who is working on your church pew project who about halfway through realizes he isn’t going to make any money. The quality takes a dive as he rushes to find a way to seek more payment. Then local politics enters and you have a mental mess that needs to be managed.
Also, furniture isn’t a church pew. Most furniture won’t be subject to the rough wear a church pew gets over many years. Thus the finishes tend to be sprayed on and surface oriented and are easily rubbed off the pew top rails and ends. I’ve written specifications for work on public projects (courthouses, state capitals, etc) and the “hand touch” areas of public buildings (ie stairway handrails) always require special treatment that is compatible with hand wear. There is no “lifetime guaranteed” surface finish that actually will last a lifetime. Best recent reference is the “baked on polyurethane” finishes of the 1970’s. Most strippers have a very difficult time removing them but hand rubbing on the top rails? The finish disappears. Hand oils are potent! It’s also why simply re-coating pews with a cleaning and light sanding deteriorates in just a few years.
A mere topcoat over that unstable substrate is more likely to stick to YOU then the wood below. It’s particularly noticeable on the hot summer days when you have to peel yourself up off a “re-coated” (some call it “refinished”) pew at the end of a service.
Church Pew Refinishing done wrong
Even the sanding and staining steps differ for furniture shops. The damage the harsh processes cause often require an inordinate amount of sanding- rough, medium, fine, superfine- to restore a smooth feel. Then they almost always “paint” on a highly opaque stain to even further cover the damage up. The result is a two dimensional flat aesthetic that looks “stripped and refinished” and not even “like new” as they promote. Wood should always have a rich, warm and resonant look. The grain- particularly in a church- should not be covered over by thick finish. The intimate tactile aspects of wood help to remind us of the power of the Lord. (I know- that's a bit heavy...)
If you want your church pew refinishing/restoration project to be done well in a timely and professional manner- it’s important you contract with a company who has done this many, many times before.
That, we hope, would be us! God bless you! Call anytime.
V. Scott Beddome
262.527.8969 cell
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