Restoring faded furnitures (e.g. rosewood veneer)
 

Hi,

How would you restore dark hardwood furnitures to original color?

I've been looking for some old furnitures, and among others I came by a
dining table made of brazilian rosewood. However, the veneer and some of
the solid edges has faded to a much brighter color.

Can the color of e.g. brazilian rosewood be restored without staining?
I.e. does anybody know how _deep_ the discoloration goes?
Of course I ask because it is very limited how much sanding one can do
on the veneer.

Something just come to my mind: could the faded parts simply be
_stained_ wood/veneer which has now returned to its original brighter
color?

It is somewhat more simple with a pair of massive teak chairs that I
digged out from a pile of scrap: Sanding, sanding and some oil finish.
Voila.

I hope you have some suggestions on the veneer restauration.

Cheers,
Johan Andersen
Aalborg, Denmark

www.refinishwizard.com forum might have some ideas.

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 22:29:42 +0200, Johan Andersen
wrote:

How would you restore dark hardwood furnitures to original color?

nospambob wrote:

www.refinishwizard.com forum might have some ideas.

Thanks for the tip!
It is still quite new, that website, but I'll check it out. My medieval
browser, however, could not digest all of that site.
I'll try to look further at furniture related sites/groups, but keep
your suggestions coming here, if you have any.

I just finished sanding my Teak chairs today. Smooth as silk! Mmmm. :-)
For the oil finish, I made small tests:
1) Pure linseed oil a) just wiped off b) wiped off + sanding on wet
tree
2) "Teak oil" (contains white spirit) a) and b) as above

--Johan

(sorry if this comes twice)

nospambob wrote:

www.refinishwizard.com forum might have some ideas.

Thanks for the tip!
It is still quite new, that website, but I'll check it out. My medieval
browser, however, could not digest all of that site.
I'll try to look further at furniture related sites/groups, but keep
all suggestions coming here, if you have any.

I just finished sanding my Teak chairs today. Smooth as silk! Mmmm. :-)
For the oil finish, I made small tests in a hidden spot:
1) Pure linseed oil a) just wiped off b) wiped off + sanding while wet
2) "Teak oil" (contains white spirit) a) and b) as above

--Johan

"Johan Andersen" wrote in message
...
Hi,

How would you restore dark hardwood furnitures to original color?

I've been looking for some old furnitures, and among others I came by a
dining table made of brazilian rosewood. However, the veneer and some of
the solid edges has faded to a much brighter color.

Can the color of e.g. brazilian rosewood be restored without staining?
I.e. does anybody know how _deep_ the discoloration goes?
Of course I ask because it is very limited how much sanding one can do
on the veneer.

Something just come to my mind: could the faded parts simply be
_stained_ wood/veneer which has now returned to its original brighter
color?

It is somewhat more simple with a pair of massive teak chairs that I
digged out from a pile of scrap: Sanding, sanding and some oil finish.
Voila.

I hope you have some suggestions on the veneer restauration.

Cheers,
Johan Andersen
Aalborg, Denmark

Veneer can be sanded but not too deeply. While a mild sanding may not
bring it back to its original color, you should be able to get closer to the
original. If you are not happy with the results you could then try using
toned shellac or lacquer to get the color you would like.

Good Luck.