Buddy of mine asked if I wanted a table. I said sure. He said he paid 3k for it in the 90s off Knox/Henderson. I don’t doubt him, he’s pretty well off.
Don’t look like 3k to me. I really don’t care for the spindle chairs.

I guess I will sand it and stain the top. Paint legs.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Nice table. I think the wood is pine which in might make staining it a little tough. My pine projects have not taken stain as well as I thought they would. Maybe look into an oil finish like danish oil or something like that.

I just recently refinished a pine table for some friends. I did stress over concerns about blotching, so I did considerable research prior to starting. I had serious problems previously with blotching, so I wanted to do this one right. The friends wanted the table to be dark and walnut colored. What worked for me was to use Minwax Pre Stain Wood Conditioner (water based version), followed by a water based dye using Transtint Dark Walnut and a bit of JE Moser Dark Wine Cherry dye (for a hint of the dark cherry reddish color). The Transtint is a concentrated liquid and the Moser is a powder and they were added to distilled water. As expected, because of the Minwax PreStain Conditioner, the dye didn’t get the table as dark as I wanted, but it was essentially blotch free. To get the dark walnut color I wanted, I then applied Varathane Dark Walnut Stain (water based thick liquid). Apply that stain and wipe it off till you get the shade you want. It’s real dark. Varathane offers other walnut colored stains of lighter shades, if you don’t want it so dark. And, two applications of the water based dye might get you to the lighter shade you want, with no need for the Varathane. I tested pretty much all possible combinations of controller/dye/ stain on scrap pine prior to putting it on the table, and had my wife and the table owner choose which dye/stain combo to use. The final coat was two applications of a satin spar varnish, or maybe it was three coats. I probably spent about a month on it. Made it easier to take the table apart and do one part at a time.

Mixing the dye stain, for me, wasn’t tough for this project, since I use that same dye combo on many projects (because I like it, and it looks good). That said, it took a long time and much experimenting to find just the right blend. And it never looked quite right till I added some of that JE Moser Dark Wine Cherry dye. The touch of red seems to make a big positive difference.

If pine might try using a blow torch to "stain" it and then just use clear varnish.

Whoa. I had no idea staining it could be a problem and could be blotchy I will definitely use some conditioner and get with wife on color. No idea how dark she wants it.

Dang nice table.
Keep sandpaper and paint away from it as much as possible. If you sand it to smooth and perfect; you might as well get new wood from the lumber yard. The old look or "patina" as some call it, is the value of old furniture, just like an old gun.
I like the oil finish recommended by Old Smuggler. Linseed oil or tung oil would be nice.
I got a table very similar to that one that was from an old schoolhouse. It had been left in the rain and they guy I got it from sanded it way too much.
I was asked to put it back together and stain it dark (see tips from 603). It came out great, but not my style of finish. interesting that the chairs that were added to it are also similar, just different colors.
I will try to find a picture.

Well. I done screwed up them. Sanded the stain off top

Good points on keeping the patina. The table I redid was whupped. Needed a redo real bad. The OP’s table looks good, so wouldn’t need the surface prep that I did. That said, there could be some surface prep needed for the new finish to work well. And if it needs to be darkened, you can’t get there with BLO or Tung Oil. If it doesn’t need to be very dark he might get there with a shade of Watco Danish Oil. But if an oil based wipe on poly is used and you don’t get what you want color wise, or if it blotched, not good. That’s why I used only water based coloring.

Trying various stains, oils, and whatever on test boards is absolutely advised prior to using it on the table.

Beyond the table finishing, the thought of having to do all the chairs, and the work involved with them, makes me weak. I didn’t have to do chairs with the table I refinished. All that extra work on chairs certainly reinforces your suggestion to keep it a bit simpler than what I did.

I went and looked at the pictures again. I’d have sanded the top too. The work to put in on the table depends so much on what level of good you want to reach. To do it right, I’d take the table apart and do the parts one by one. If you don’t need fancy, you could just use Danish Oil for a small degree of coloration and not take it apart.

So…question 1 is ‘how good do you want it to look’? Number 2 might be ‘how dark do you want it’?

As of now. I want it all stained a lighter color. Wife wants dark top and legs white.

If you can take the top off in sections or planks I have a 26" drum sander we can run it through. It will clean it up and make everything flat.
PM me if I can help.

I had already sanded it. It’s pretty smooth, which don’t sound like was a good thing.

I think your good with what you've done the top was not beat up or gouged. If the top edges are to sharp you can take a 1/4" round over router bit to them to soften the edge and protect from splinters/chipping.

It looks like you are going down the same path that I did.
That is some awesome wood

What I started with looked like something from a wood pile. It was warped and weathered
I was very happy to give it another life

Wow. That looks fantastic. Very similar to this one.

Just called my buddy who gave me the table. I call this the divorce table. His ex told him to come get it and he gave it to me.

Me and wife are gonna get a divorce over it. I want to stain it. She wants to paint legs.
She told me to take it back. I’m afraid I’m gonna have to paint legs and stain top.

It’ll look nice with painted legs, and it’ll be a heck of a lot easier to paint them than to finish them. Much less surface prep needed. Then you can focus your efforts on the top. Much easier, and it’ll be a much quicker redo. If the table was Walnut or Cherry, I wouldn’t want to paint any part of it.

Best I can do. I stained it until the wife told me to stop. Will add couple layers of polyurethane.

Next time, look into Rubio Monocoat hard wax finish.

I told the wife I wasn’t gonna listen to her anymore. She made me put on too much stain.

Sanded again. Will try again.

I agree, that was pretty dark stain, leaving the wood grain show through would be nice

Give the woman what she wants. Furniture is her place. She wants dark stained wood and painted legs, that's what she gets. When you want the new tractor with the air conditioned cab...well...

To be fair. She agreed it was too dark. She wanted me to apply another coat against my wishes.

I kinda like the look of it unstained and with the painted legs. Maybe try some Danish Oil on the top for a little color. They have some with color in it, so it’d be a bit darker. Test on scrap pine first though.

It’s gonna look nice.

I’m going through the very same thing here. The oldest grandson and his GF have a dismantled table in my barn. I want the table out of there, but it needs a lot of work. I recently suggested the painted legs and stained top, and volunteered to do it. But, it’s their first joint project, so they want to do the whole project. That’s a fine objective, but this may take years, at their work rate.

When you get done with your table, please post a picture. I’ll show it to the lovebirds, so they can see how good it looks like that.

I will say, I do like the lighter look too. Carry on.