Cleaning Your Furniture

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Antique Restoration

Antique Restoration always starts with a good cleaning. In many cases a very grungy looking antique will come out looking like show room quality with just a good cleaning and buffing. Use great care with delicate moldings and decorative areas. Always remember, to restore an antique is just exactly that, restoring it to its original beauty, not changing it in any way.

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Citristrip
Paint Remover Wash

Quikwood
Epoxy Putty Stick

Sculpwood

Repair it
with Mr. Grip
Furniture Repair Kit

Also see Furniture Restoration Procedure and Furniture Cleaner

Old Fashioned Milk Paint. The deep rich colors of Milk Paint authentically reflect those colors found on existing antique furniture and buildings. This milk paint is made in the same manner as was used back in the days that excess milk was used up making paint.

Cleaning Furniture in General

A good cleaning can work wonders on a piece of old furniture that has been stored in an attic or shed for many, many years. Even many older pieces that are in use can look a lot better with a good cleaning.

When a piece of furniture is waxed or polished there is always a fine layer of dust that is mixed in with the wax or polish and over a period of years the layer will darken and obscure the grain pattern of the wood.

Handy Furniture Cleaning Tools

Some handy tools for cleaning furniture are lots of soft clothes, a toothbrush, toothpicks, a dowel the size of a pencil, sharpened in a pencil sharpener, 0000 steel wool, and a lot of patience.

Prelude has a very good cleaning product called, novel enough, furniture cleaner. Murphy's Oil Soap, or other vegetable oil soap is also good. TSP is a good cleaner too, but you have to be careful not to mix the solution too strong or it can damage the finish.

Clean With Care

If you use the 0000 steel wool, use it very gently, with just enough pressure to remove stubborn areas of wax and polish. It's better to dissolve the wax and polish and wipe it away, than to try to scrub it. The steel wool can dull the finish, when you get to it, if too much pressure is used. Use the toothbrush, toothpicks and sharpened dowel to get in the nooks and crannies.

Always clean older pieces before you refinish, because lots of times it won't be necessary to refinish at all and with antiques, the least done is the best. Many times, when the wax and grime is removed the old finish is still in good shape, or is good enough that it will just need a new application of finish over the old. Remember though, furniture finish, not polyurethane, especially with antiques.

Antique Restoration, Addendum

To restore an antique is to get it back as close to original as possible. Way back when, there was no such thing as polyurethane, so antique restoration can't include coating an antique with plastic and have it be the same as original.

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Fountain Restoration.

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