Polishing old wooden furniture
 

Hi all,

I've just bought two rather nice wooden items from the
YMCA Furniture Warehouse in Tunbridge Wells - a small
bedside cupboard and a bookshelf with cupboards at the bottom.

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to wood...

Although both items are in a similar style, dark with carved features,
the bedside is predominantly ply and the bookshelf is mostly solid wood.

AFAICS the bedside is varnished - feels hard and smooth, no
real "stickiness" if running a finger over it.

The bookshelf has a different feel - a sort of slight sticky/squeaky
feeling if running a finger over it. Could this mean that it's original
finish was wax or wax on oil?

Anyway, onto the real question:

I thought I'd give the bookshelf a buff up before putting it upstairs, so I
bought some carnauba/beeswax and tried some out on top. Shined up nicely by
hand, except for one area, where there seems to be a surface deposit of
something hard that looks like bloom. I can scratch this off with my nail.

So I think I should clean it up with something before attempting to polish.
Not much wrong with the item, no deep scratches or stains - so I don't
really want to strip it completely.

What would be best - warm soapy water, a wipe with white spirit or something
else?

Ta muchly,

Tim

Polishing old wooden furniture
 

"Tim S" wrote:
Hi all,

I've just bought two rather nice wooden items from the
YMCA Furniture Warehouse in Tunbridge Wells - a small
bedside cupboard and a bookshelf with cupboards at the bottom.

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to wood...

Although both items are in a similar style, dark with carved features,
the bedside is predominantly ply and the bookshelf is mostly solid wood.

AFAICS the bedside is varnished - feels hard and smooth, no
real "stickiness" if running a finger over it.

The bookshelf has a different feel - a sort of slight sticky/squeaky
feeling if running a finger over it. Could this mean that it's original
finish was wax or wax on oil?

Anyway, onto the real question:

I thought I'd give the bookshelf a buff up before putting it upstairs, so
I
bought some carnauba/beeswax and tried some out on top. Shined up nicely
by
hand, except for one area, where there seems to be a surface deposit of
something hard that looks like bloom. I can scratch this off with my nail.

So I think I should clean it up with something before attempting to
polish.
Not much wrong with the item, no deep scratches or stains - so I don't
really want to strip it completely.

What would be best - warm soapy water, a wipe with white spirit or
something
else?

Ta muchly,

Tim

That something else could be a weak solution of vinegar diluted in water.

Polishing old wooden furniture
 

Phil Anthropist wrote:

"Tim S" wrote:

So I think I should clean it up with something before attempting to
polish.
Not much wrong with the item, no deep scratches or stains - so I don't
really want to strip it completely.

What would be best - warm soapy water, a wipe with white spirit or
something
else?

Ta muchly,

Tim

That something else could be a weak solution of vinegar diluted in water.

I didn't think of that - I will give it a try and report back...

Cheers

Tim

Polishing old wooden furniture
 

Tim S wrote:


I thought I'd give the bookshelf a buff up before putting it upstairs, so
I bought some carnauba/beeswax and tried some out on top. Shined up nicely
by hand, except for one area, where there seems to be a surface deposit of
something hard that looks like bloom. I can scratch this off with my nail.

So I think I should clean it up with something before attempting to
polish. Not much wrong with the item, no deep scratches or stains - so I
don't really want to strip it completely.


SWMBO reckons it's soot - I think she might be right... Vinegar didn't touch
it so I'm off the carefully experiment with white spirit on an
inconspicuous bit...

Cheers

Tim

Polishing old wooden furniture
 

On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:04:57 +0100, Tim S wrote:

Tim S wrote:


I thought I'd give the bookshelf a buff up before putting it upstairs, so
I bought some carnauba/beeswax and tried some out on top. Shined up nicely
by hand, except for one area, where there seems to be a surface deposit of
something hard that looks like bloom. I can scratch this off with my nail.

So I think I should clean it up with something before attempting to
polish. Not much wrong with the item, no deep scratches or stains - so I
don't really want to strip it completely.


SWMBO reckons it's soot - I think she might be right... Vinegar didn't touch
it so I'm off the carefully experiment with white spirit on an
inconspicuous bit...

Cheers

Tim

If ordinary soap and water doesn't work, why not try sugar soap?
It'll take the shine off for sure but that may not be a bad thing if
you intend to re-wax the piece. Sugar soap, depending on the strength
of the solution, might tend to remove any desirable patina (dirt) too.
Another alternative is a very light rub over the area of unwanted
bloom with extra-fine wire wool dipped in oil to lubricate the
process. This will have more of a tendency to produce a distinct patch
than sugar soap would.
--
Regards,
Mike Halmarack

Drop the (EGG) to email me.

Polishing old wooden furniture
 

Mike Halmarack ... wrote:

On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:04:57 +0100, Tim S wrote:

Tim S wrote:


I thought I'd give the bookshelf a buff up before putting it upstairs,
so I bought some carnauba/beeswax and tried some out on top. Shined up
nicely by hand, except for one area, where there seems to be a surface
deposit of something hard that looks like bloom. I can scratch this off
with my nail.

So I think I should clean it up with something before attempting to
polish. Not much wrong with the item, no deep scratches or stains - so I
don't really want to strip it completely.


SWMBO reckons it's soot - I think she might be right... Vinegar didn't
touch it so I'm off the carefully experiment with white spirit on an
inconspicuous bit...

Cheers

Tim

If ordinary soap and water doesn't work, why not try sugar soap?
It'll take the shine off for sure but that may not be a bad thing if
you intend to re-wax the piece. Sugar soap, depending on the strength
of the solution, might tend to remove any desirable patina (dirt) too.
Another alternative is a very light rub over the area of unwanted
bloom with extra-fine wire wool dipped in oil to lubricate the
process. This will have more of a tendency to produce a distinct patch
than sugar soap would.

Hi

Thanks for the tip - I have some results now...

Sorry - I didn't see your post until I'd come back from
B&Q (spit - 3 quid for a pair of M6 expanding bolts - plan ahead next time
and use Screwfix...)

I tried a little white spirit (premium less pongy version - not sure if that
makes any difference). With a little rubbing I was able to shift the
deposit, so I then went over the whole top gently with a rag and more
spirit.

It dried matt, which is what I was expecting - certainly didn't take
vast amounts of the finish off, just a little along with some dirt - which
is exactly what I was aiming for.

10 minutes later, after it had dried off, I polished it up with the beeswax
by hand and it came up a treat.

So I'll follow that process for the rest of it. Not sure if this would be
the best idea on an antique but that's not a problem here.

Cheers

Tim