DIYbanter - View Single Post - Refinishing tips for a 70-year-old mahogany dining room set

Mike Marlow[_2_]

wrote:

Hello, Mike,

I have asked a couple questions. No, the answers did not scare me.
Some have made me think a little bit. Like I said, I was unaware of
them staining mahogany to make it look darker back then. That
answers the question of why is the underneath of the tabletop and
chairs are way, WAY lighter than the surfaces that are seen.

Sorry if I missed your other questions. That's happened before...

Besides staining wood, they used to dye it way back then. For what that's
worth.

I looks closer at the dining set and I believe the wood everything
seems to be solid wood--no veneer. So, there is a question: How do I
figure out if anything is veneered? I really do not think the top of
the table or buffet or china cabinet are veneered, just by looking at
it. And especially since there are deep gouges on the top of the
buffet, especially. I would venture to say that one of the three
gouges, at least, is deeper than any veneer and there is no sign of
anything bu solid wood there.

May be solid wood then. Or maybe both - veneer on the larger table top and
solid wood on the buffet (which around my house is called "the long
thing"...)

It was suggested to try Howard Restor-A-Finish. I need to look that
stuff up. If it does what J. Clarke says it does, then it may be the
thing for me, especially for the scratches on the table top. They
are not deep; there are just a bunch of them.

I've never used that product before but it's worth taking John's advice and
see how it goes. I have used denatured alcohol and steel wool or 3M pads
and gone at old ugly finishes before. That'll take off the years of Lemon
Pledge and what ever other ungodly stuff housewives put on over the years.
It makes kind of a sticky mess that you have to clean up with more alcohol,
but it can work quite well. Depending on the coloring that was added to the
wood way back when it was built, that may blend the coloration back in
significantly. Worth a bit of elbow grease to see.

Okay, here is another question: Since it does seem like the
manufacturer may have used stain (as can best be seen by the stain
wearing out around the top of the chair backs), how would you restore
those using the steel wool and wax method? Or even the Howard
Restor-A-Finish method? It would seem to me that there really IS
stain involved here and a complete refinishing job is required? Or,
maybe, just cleaning it up to get the old "Pledge" and fingerprints
off and then using that Howard Restor-A-Finish stuff with steel wool
may clean it up just enough. Then I can top it off with the wax?

You can try the alcohol route I suggest above, and you can try to blend in
some stain. If you try to blend it in, don't try to make it show room
perfect - go for shading that disguises the worn spots - does that make
sense?

I am not afraid to strip this stuff to bare wood.

Yeahbut the unintended consequences when you go that route are things like
joint failures from what ever chemical stripper you use. I'd go at it with
some alcohol, or maybe even mineral spirits and steel wool, or the product
that John suggested, and see how it all blends in.

--

-Mike-