How To Refinish Antique Furniture

Rinse off the furniture piece with a damp sponge. Removing decades of dirt and grime often restores much of the original luster.

How To Refinish Antique Furniture 11 Steps With Pictures

Make sure the piece is free of any dirt or sticky substances.

How to refinish antique furniture. Kevin recommends liquid Ivory dish soap mixed with water. The alternative is to heat a small amount of olive oil and stir about quarter the amount of paraffin wax into the warm oil so they blend together. Any refinishing furniture DIY starts with basic cleaning.

Before you begin this process make any necessary antique furniture repair like fixing broken chair seats or filling in cracks. To remove light scratches which is all you should do use fine grit sandpaper. Ad Search Faster Better Smarter Here.

Rub the mixed liquid with a clean cloth into the ring mark and leave for a few hours. Sand the piece with 100-120 grit. To remove any stripper residue and set the wood up to accept a finish 220 open coat aluminum oxide is good.

A thorough cleaning is an important first step in any furniture refinishing renewal project. Apply the Stain. Right now I am really digging furniture refinishing in a natural raw wood look on my pieces and I am so happy with how this most recent dresser turned out.

Shellac is one of the oldest types of finishing materials. 120 C open coat aluminum oxide will do nicely. Refinishing Antiques Many antiques are beyond use without restoration or even refinishing.

To remedy this issue you can apply a wood stain to the surface that matches the unbleached portions of your antique furniture. Ad Search Faster Better Smarter Here. If youve used a chemical stripping product you may need to sand the furniture surface using 120 grit paper to ensure youve completely removed any residue.

As the color leaches from the surface your antique furniture will assume an uneven tone. As a novice the finer the sandpaper you use the longer it will take to make a mistake. If you do restoration work the goal is always to leave the inherent value of an antique untouched says Hillmann.

Below are the 6 steps to refinish antique furniture to a natural or raw wood finish. To layer the stain start with a dark stain add a lighter stain such as a light coat of antique white apply another coat of dark stain and then blend the piece with a blending pencil. Shellac is fast drying protects well and lasts over many years holding the beauty and mellowness of your furniture.

Wipe the entire surface of the piece of furniture with tack cloth and a mixture of dish soap and warm water. An optional step is to fill in the grain of your wood furniture to your liking. Stain new wood to match the unstained look of the original furniture as closely as possible.

Unless the piece is an American masterpiece of antique furniture or finished with a hand-painted technique some finishes are actually lesser woods painted to look like a tiger oak or birds eye maple for example and those techniques add value when they stay in place over time cleaning andor restoring the piece may actually do you more good than harm when it comes to value. It also has the ability to be revived and freshened up without the need of removal unlike some of the more modern finishes. Always finish off by using a good quality antique furniture bees wax.

Kevin says its hard to believe but its perfectly OK to wash furniture with soap and water. Allow this to saturate the surface fully and evenly before wiping away any unabsorbed liquid. Even so if someone spills nail polish remover all.

If your furniture has a tight wood grain then it wont need grain filler.

How You Should Restore Antique Furniture