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Default Refinishing tips for a 70-year-old mahogany dining room set

On Monday, December 17, 2012 7:24:06 AM UTC-8, wrote:
I was just given the go-head to refinish my wife's parent's old dining room set. It was purchased in 1940 (my wife still has the receipt!) and it is in dire need of refinishing. There are 70 years worth of fingerprints all over the backs of the chairs and there are several nice gouges in the top of the buffet. The finish on the top of the backs of chairs is really coming off, too, and you can see different colored wood starting to show up on all four of the chairs. Of course, there are a lot of scratches on the table top from cats and kids and whatever over the years. And you can see all the cracks and discoloration of the old varnish--at least I think it is varnish. That is the first question: how do I figure out what they used to finish the dining set? Varnish, shellac, what else would they have used seventy years ago? Next question is what should I use to finish it again? I assume I would want to use the same thing. I certainly don't want to use any sort of poly. The chairs are getting a little wobbly but I don't think they are anywhere near the point of having to take them apart. Would it be worth it to look into that glue that is applied using a needle; the kind of needle like a doctor uses? It seems like these can get into really small places, obviously, but I don't know if the stuff works. One last thing: how do I get my wife to understand that the entire set is going to be much, much lighter than it is now? She was born 20 years after this set was purchased, so she has only known it to be on the dark side. I am sure she is going to scream at first. I guess the only thing I can say is wait another 70 years and it will be just as dark as it is now, except she will be 120+ years old by then and the last thing she will be thinking about is what the set looked like in 2012. Thanks!


Really? I think I heard you say "My inlaws have a treasured family piece of furniture, in fact an entire set of furniture, I don't have enough experience to know how to refinish it and I would like to start doing this now."

Refinishing is the best way to reduce the value of any antique (can we call this an antique?). This is true even when done by the most accomplished professional.

Finishing furniture itself is (in my opinion) one of the most difficult parts of building furniture and refinishing is about 10 times harder.

Hmmm, does this seem like a good idea?