Meanwhile, here's a look at what I've been doing lately. (Well, sort of...I study for the bar about 8 hours a day, and with the rest of my time I have been refinishing a coffee table. I finally finished it a couple days ago after a week or two of work.) In the pictures, you see it right after I finished stripping the old varnish off (I neglected to take the "before" picture), directly after I finished sanding, and then the re-stained and varnished final product.
