Basic Furniture Cleaning

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Basic furniture cleaning should be the first step you perform before refinishing furniture. After cleaning the surface you may discover that refinishing isn't necessary, just some finish restoration might be in order.

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Furniture
First Aid Kit

Liberon
White Ring Remover

Restor-A-Finish

Citristrip
Paint & Varnish
Stripping Gel

Dye Powders to Match Stains
When your stain almost matches the old color,but not quite, you can make a perfect match using these dye powders.

Clean Buildup of Wax and Dirt

Cleaning any buildup of wax and/or dirt will let the stripper get right to the old finish and will allow it to work much faster and more efficiently.

Be sure to test any chemicals on an inconspicuous spot before starting. If you don't need to strip you don't want to have a bad chemical reaction with a restorable finish.

Be aware that Tri Sodium Phosphate (TSP) may soften a finish.

Also see Furniture Restoration Procedure.
and Furniture Cleaner

A Good Furniture Cleaner

Prelude Furniture Cleaner

is a strong heavy duty cleaner with a mineral spirits base and designed for serious cleaning applications. Apply with a 0000 grade steel wool to remove old oils, wax and grease from any wood surface. - Rockler

Handy materials for basic cleaning

Some handy materials. - water - vegetable oil soap - mild detergent - TSP - denatured alcohol - vegetable brush - toothbrush - paper towels - rags - paint brush - 0000 steel wool - plastic scraper - dowel sharpened in a pencil sharpener - toothpicks - - heavy twine.

Anything that works and doesn't harm restorable furniture finishes is fair game.

Mix soap cleaner with water

Mix soap type furniture cleaner with water as lots of soap type cleaners are too harch to use directly on a furniture finish or painted surface.

Clean small areas at a time

Dip the vegetable brush or steel wool in the furniture cleaning soluton and clean small areas at a time so that not too much water is applied at a time.

Wipe the area frequently

Wipe the area to remove residue and water. Keep dipping and rubbing until all evidence of dirt and grime is removed.

Rub in the direction of the grain

Always rub in the direction of the grain, except in the case of heavily painted furniture, then a circular motion may be used.

Denatured alcohol for wax buildup

Denatured alcohol may be used to remove a build up of wax.

Denatured alcohol will soften shellac and will remove a shellac finish.

Denatured alcohol is highly flammable. Dispose of any rags or paper towels used in a covered metal container outside, as it may catch fire by spontaneous combustion.

Use toothbrush, sharpened dowel and toothpicks

Use the toothbrush to clean carvings and inside edges.

The sharpened dowel and toothpicks are handy for tight inside corners and small areas in carvings.

Heavy twine can be used to clean the tight parts of spindles.

Pay close attention to difficult areas.

Pay close attention to difficult to get to areas. Those are the areas that you will want to have the cleanest so that the furniture stripper can work its best. Grime is a lot easier to clean out of a tight carving or corner than paint is.

On to stripping

After a thorough furniture cleaning dry the piece well and then go to the Furniture Stripping Basic page and proceed with the stripping step.

Or maybe your done.

You may be so pleased with the furniture looks after cleaning that you may decide to leave it as it is and rewax for some additional protection and to give you something to do a few years down the line removing the current wax and buildup.