On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 7:31:53 AM UTC-5, Mike Marlow wrote:
dadiOH wrote:


That won't happen. Not, at least to any significant degree. The
only time when it might work well would be if the color were within
the finish - a "toner" - or slopped on the wood, not soaked into the
wood like a stain. Yes, if you get down to bare, colored wood and
then rub it with an appropriate solvent, you may pick up some color
but I can't imagine it ever being enough to even out worn areas.


Au Contraire, mon ami. I have done this myself, and that's why I
recommended it to the OP. As you say, it is not going to result in a
complete color fill, but I also indicated that in my reply earlier. For
not-so-bad areas, it can result in enough diffusion of the worn through
areas to significantly lessen the effect of the wear. By virtue of the
wear, his surface has already exhibited that it is down to the bare wood you
mention above. As I had also mentioned, I have used stains to further blend
the color differences, using the same process.


Wow, a French lesson, too!

I really think this "blending" will work. I can see I am down to bare wood in those spots on the chairs. Those bare spots are as one would expect: smack dab in the middle of the cross piece. This piece is about 4-inches wide and the bare spot is right at the top and goes around the front and back of that piece by almost two-inches now and are about as wide as a large hand. In other words, not all THAT big. If I can get the stain/dye/finish/whatever that that is all around to bleed even a little (and "maybe" add a very, very small amount of stain to this mix), it will more than likely be enough. I am not looking for perfection, just something that is "better" than what is there today.

And it seems like the removal of old wax, oil from fingerprints, and whatever other products were used on the wood for all those years will do the most good initially.

Using the Restore-A-Finish product or one of the homemade ones in the link dpb sent to spruce up the scratches will be the next best fix.

Finally, once these two steps are done, a couple coats of paste wax to seal everything up will be more than enough. I can live with the three or four gouges in the buffet top--heck, it add character! Plus, I suspect the "bleeding" will at least make those spots more-or-less the same color as the rest of the top. And the table top will usually have a pad and tablecloth on it, so it will be protected (for the most part) until such time as the wife wants to take it off for whatever reason.