Clean it as best as you can with citrus and other household cleaners.
Several cleanings may be necessary to get as much of the soot and smell off
as you can. This will remove 95% or more of the smell. If the outside isn't
damaged, then I wouldn't do anything else to those areas. With a coat of
good furniture polish you should be ready to go. The inside and underside
areas should also be cleaned as much as possible, but those areas are not
finished as well if at all, so they will have absorbed more of the smoke and
it's nearly impossible clean them to totally remove the smell from these
areas, but you can seal in the smell with one or more coats of shellac.
Shellac is the preferred method used to seal in the fire smell when
professionals are repairing fire damage in structures. They spray it on all
of the burned/charred surfaces that won't be replaced during the renovation.


I have an octagon shaped heavy pine table that my wife had seen in a
furniture store and wanted very badly. Before we could get back to the store
to buy it the store had a big fire that burned most of the second story
(where the table had been). After the fire and insurance settlement, the
owner held a fire sale (in a tent outside) and we found the table in his
sale. It was covered with soot and the top had gobs of melted plastic lamp
shade stuck to it, but the table hadn't actually burned. I bought it for $30
(originally $350) thinking that I would clean it up and maybe refinish the
top. If I failed, it wouldn't be much of a loss, so it was worth the gamble.

Well, after doing what I explained above and then chipping the plastic globs
off of of it, I lightly steel wooled the top. I was able to remove all of
the melted lamp shade and other marks without cutting through the finish
enough to damage the stain. So I put 2 coats of polyurethane on the top, the
shellac on the inside, and that table has now been in my family room for 34
years with no signs (or smells) of the fire that it had been in.

--
Charley

"Sonny" wrote in message
oups.com...
Warehouse burned... Antique table has a touch of heat damage, but not
serious. The piece still has a horrible smoke smell. How does one
remove fire-smoke smell? Refinishing top and legs may eliminate/
prevent smell from there, but no finish on the underside surface.
Bleach? Vinegar? Other? Combination of products?

Sonny