How to best refinish pine bar stools?

I have a pair of pine bar stools that are just a few years old that I'd like to refinish. My dog damaged them when he was a puppy and the wood color no longer matches my decor.


They have a medium colored stain and appear to have very little finish on top of that.


I want to fill in the indents/ tooth marks on the spindles/ foot rests w/ a stainable wood putty. I want to get rid of the current finish and then stain a darker color, then top w/ a durable poly as he still rests his often wet chin on the lower foot spindles.





How would I remove the current finish/ poly? Should I use some sort of gel or liquid stripper or just sand? It seems sanding could be tricky with a few rows of spindles. I just want to be sure they accept the new darker stain. They are fairly inexpensive stools, just love the style and can't find them now, so I am not looking for perfection, just need to know the best way to get the current sealer off and how to get them to accept the stain. Any tips?

How to best refinish pine bar stools?
you have several problems:


1. Pine dents, it will continue to dent.


2. Stainable fillers stain, but they never look like the wood nor stain like the wood.


3. Pine is notorious for taking stain poorly. Gel stains are your best bet.


4. The current finish is very likely NOT polyurethane.





Use a chemical stripper (gel or semi-paste would work best for you). Then sand up to about 180 grit sandpaper. Personally, I would leave the dents as it will continue to dent and you might as well learn to live them them. I'd also suggest a wipe on varnish as the easiest to use.