Old wood (Oak) furniture question.

[Guest TankerHC]

I bought an old Oak cabinet (Tag indicates made before 1950) and it is in really good condition, except for fading on the wood, perfect condition actually. Its pretty huge. It will be a future project, but in the meantime (I have no experience with wood to be perfectly honest)...is there anything that you can purchase, to rub in, that will bring the wood back out without going through all the sanding and prep? I will do all of that later (Probably next year) in the meantime I would like for it to look a little better than it does.

[jhc77]

Have a picture?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I'm not encyclopedic on wood finishes either, but Minwax sells a polyurethane rub-in finish that is about the same as polyurethane paint except it is less trouble to apply and more difficult to mess up. In addition, the times I tried it, it isn't "heavy duty" like a good poly finish either. Rubs off easier.

 

It seemed to looks fine, but wasn't real wear-resistant. Sounds like maybe a possible for your cabinet.

 

My Ace hardware has the stuff, and most likely the depot and lowes has it as well, but never looked for it there.

 

Now another option that works pretty nice ontop of a finish (at least sometimes)-- I have a walnut-cased Baldwin grand piano was built in the 1940's AFAIK, bought used by mom about 1960. It was classical black and we had no idea it was walnut. So about 1967 a moving company scratched it, and the mover's insurance paid to have it refinished (and we had the innards rebuilt at the same time). The refinishers did a great job, and after it was stripped and discovered such pretty wood, had it finished natural, which is pretty dark. I don't know what kind of finish they used, but it isn't completely water-proof, and "breathes".

 

So anyway, sometimes especially the lid of that Baldwin, the wood appears to lighten and look "dried out" even though it does have some kind of finish on it. We rub tung oil into it, and the tung oil (as far as I can tell) soaks into and thru that 1960's era finish, and makes the wood look like new for a year or more before the treatment requires repetition.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Unless you are going to go full bore into refinishing to pefection, what Lester says is great. Minwax is fairly easy to

work with, also. On new and old furniture alike.

[Guest TankerHC]

OK, Minwax Ill check out. Ill post a pic later this evening. If it aint Oak, (Hope I dont get ripped), I know nothing about wood. I was told it was Oak and the SOB weighs a ton.

[Garufa]

I'm by no means an expert but you might try some Danish Oil or something less "permanent" than something with polyurethene in it.  Actually, I would try some Howard's Feed & Wax untill you decide what you want to do in the long run.

[jtluttrell]

 Actually, I would try some Howard's Feed & Wax untill you decide what you want to do in the long run.

 

Howard's Restor-A-Finish (Golden Oak) then finish up with the Feed-N-Wax. That will go a long way to "freshen up" a finish. Like Garufa said, I wouldn't put any film finish (poly, lacquer, shellac, etc.)  on it, if you're just gonna strip / refinish down the line.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Oak is one of my favorite grain patterns. A cousin, who like my uncle his dad, seems to "just naturally" know how to do stuff, and sometimes works on high-end cabinetry for rich folk-- He said his grudge against oak, is that the nature of the grain makes it very difficult to get a precise, glass-flat finish. It can be given a nice finish, but will usually have some "wave" even after many coats. But I never tried for glassy smooth finishes so it doesn't bug me.

 

The reason I was thinking that rub-on poly, was BECAUSE it doesn't seem a real hard finish, and may be relatively easy to remove at a late date, compared to other alternatives. But it is an amateur opinion.

 

I like hard waterproof gloss finishes, and typically use minwax oil-based high-gloss, quick-dry poly floor paint on just about anything. But it takes some care to brush on and get a good result, and you need to be purt careful with respirators to spray poly because you don't want poly setting up in yer lungs, so I don't hardly ever spray, and ain't good at spraying anyhoo. When polying, I keep a scad of those cheap disposable foam brushes and lay at least four coats, disposing the brush every day rather than bothering with cleaning. With care the finish goes on real smooth with no brush hairs left on the wood (since the foam brush doesn't have brush hairs).

 

Starting from bare sanded stained wood, I'll usually lay two coats without sanding. It fuzzes up the grain and shows a real rough finish after a couple of coats. This is just a personal theory, but I think that a couple or three unsanded coats causes the poly layer to get real intimately "attached" to that layer of wood fuzz. So then I light sand with about 220 grit between every subsequent coat. Otherwise, the final finish with have lots of tiny dots and knobs in the finish, if you rub your hand across the finished product.

 

Many people consider high-gloss to be ugly and gaudy, and they prefer semi-gloss or no-gloss finish. But I just love the shine.

 

Wife refinished some old furniture just removing the finish and treating it wil tung oil as needed, which is a very pretty natural look.

 

In addition to Danish oil, lemon-oil containing products sometimes work good on wood. Some geetar manufacturers recommend lemon oil on ebony fingerboards for instance, and it does look good.

 

One issue about wax containing products-- I know this applies to wood floors and am making a wild guess it also applies to any other kind of wood-- If you strip and refinish a hardwood floor with poly, or install a new poly finished hardwood floor-- They say NEVER use wax on it. They say if the floor has a good solid coat and after some years starts showing wear-- Then if you recoat before you get bald spots, you can just light sand the existing finish and recoat to bring back an adequate protective layer. However, the floor pro's say that if you ever put wax on a poly floor, then you have to sand it down to the wood to get a poly refinish to stick. Dunno, that may be wrong advice but the advice is very common.

 

Just thinking, if maybe you don't have to take the oak all the way down to bare wood later, then waxing it might require taking it down to bare wood? On the other hand that old oak cab has most likely been waxed a zillion times already, so maybe it makes no nevermind about any new wax you might apply? :)

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Actually..  mayo works to bring back some of the luster..

 

Also.. black tea is good for making it looking better

 

all kinds of temp stuff you can do with non chemical stuff

[china coaster]

   Boiled linseed oil and hot water to clean then when dry rub in straight oil. . I have gotten to where I finish new build pieces with just oil.

[jhc77]

Actually..  mayo works to bring back some of the luster..
 
Also.. black tea is good for making it looking better
 
all kinds of temp stuff you can do with non chemical stuff

The "real" mayo works good. Great on water spots too. I use Antiquax on my stuff and lots of elbow grease. My newest piece of furniture is from around 1940 or so. The eldest was made around 1870. Like the real furniture of the olden days.