Newsletter
April 12 2003

Quick tip

Dust on furniture is abrasive, some dust is mildly abrasive and other dust may have minute bits of sand, which has many sharp little pokies sticking out from it in all directions, which is very abrasive and can cause little scratches and swirls if the furniture is dry dusted.

If you're dust comes seeping in quickly and makes a heavy coat on your furniture, it's best to vacuum with the long soft bristle brush attachment first, then wipe gently with a water dampened soft cloth, then buff with a dry soft cloth.

Many spray dusting agents contain silicone, which fills in the most minute voids to make the surface shiny, but it's generally the stuff that causes the smear appearance when you run a finger across it and holds fingerprints like it works for the FBI.

Many sprays will lubricate dust particles so they just slide around and don't come up onto the cloth, so eventually the dust and polish will accumulate to obscure the grain of the wood.

Allergies

The following is an email question and answer concerning allergies and some ingredients. Since allergies seem to be common it may be interesting to a lot of people.

question:

Hi, I'm planning to refinish my kitchen & remove old layers of paint from my wood cabinets. Citristrip sounds very natural & gentle, but I'm terribly allergic to many cleaning chemicals. Can you let me know what this product is made of (oranges?) or what the ingredients are? That would help me determine whether I can use your product.

Thanks,

Ofelia

reply:

I don't know what the ingredients of Citristrip are, but here is a link to the Citristrip web site contact information and they would probably tell you. Methylene Chloride is the culprit in most strippers that has such a strong smell and which you want to guard against inhaling too much of and there isn't any of it in Citristrip.

The orange stuff is d-Limonene, a strong solvent and cleaner made from the rind of citrus fruit. Here is more information about d-Limonene.

Since you're allergic to many chemicals you should use considerable caution even if you aren't allergic to any of the chemicals in Citristrip, because there may be ingredients in the substance you're stripping off that you may be allergic to that could be activated when it's liquefied by the stripper.

Always use good ventilation when you're working with chemicals of any kind, even if they're shown to be safe, because you may be one of the few who may be sensitive to it.

Always use eye protection and gloves.

Since you work for a doctor you probably know that many people are allergic to latex gloves. There are vinyl gloves available which give some protection, but you need to plan to use several pairs, because they become loose and stretchy and come apart frequently when used with chemicals. Another type of glove, nitrile, is stronger and is more resistant to chemicals and tearing. Nitrile gloves are used in many doctor's offices. If you don't have access to them through your employer, they're available at Nitrile Gloves

Quick tip

We've opened up a new section on one of our other web sites that might be of interest to some of you. Ice Cream. That stuff will stand alone in it's own sentence. It also is one of those things that makes it difficult to look straight down to make sure my toes are still all in place.

There are some ice cream makers for sale on the site to help pay for the free information we give, but the fun part is the additional ice cream information. Did you know that ice can get as cold as 14° F? It's been fun and a real learning experience gathering the ice cream information. You can see a copy of Thomas Jefferson's ice cream recipe that he brought back from France. We'll be putting a lot of home made ice cream recipes and more ice cream information on the site as time goes on.

Veneer

email question number 1 about veneer on an antique

Hi,

I found your sight very helpful and interesting. The question I have is about stripping oak veneer. I have stripped solid woods before, but have never attempted to strip veneer. I'm not sure if I should do anything differently? The piece is in relatively good condition, consists of both solids and veneers and is from approximately 1920. I want to refinish to change the color. I'd appreciate any advice you can give.

Thank you for your time, Debra

Reply:

Veneer is treated the same as solid wood. Although veneer is very very thin it's as tough as the wood it's glued to.

If the finish is in good condition I would highly recommend not refinishing it. As soon as you strip the old finish off it will lose much of it's antique value and if you plan to sand off a darker stain to make it lighter, you'll also sand off all evidence of age and it'll be in the antique replica category.

Restoring is much better for a piece of that age and will hold the value up. Cleaning with a good furniture cleaner will make a world of difference in the appearance of older furniture by removing a build up of polish and dust.

If you want to darken the piece or just change the color tone you could probably get by with using Restor-a-Finish to work with the old finish and make some changes.

email question number 2 veneer on a cedar chest:

I would like to know if it is possible to strip veneer wood, or should it be sanded or how do you remove the old finish?? Can I use tung oil on wood veneer . Veneer is probably the only thing I haven't worked with, I know it is pretty thin and I have a friend who wants me to re-do her cedar chest, which looks like veneer to me. Is it possible to strip it?? Thanks, Yvette

Reply:

Veneer can be stripped the same as solid wood. Although veneer is very, very thin it's as tough as the wood it's glued to.

It's best not to sand it as it's so thin you could sand through very quickly.

Until around the 1970's or '80's cedar chests were made of solid cedar with a veneer of walnut, mahogany, oak or other wood on the outside to make them fit in with other furniture. Now days the common practice is to use particle board with a veneer on the outside, the same as before, but with a veneer of cedar on the inside treated with aromatic cedar oil. So much for progress.

If you have a cedar chest veneered on the inside there is an aromatic cedar liner that helps to do what cedar chests were intended to do. You just lay it in the bottom.

If the cedar is solid, a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper on the inside of the chest will break open the top layer of cells and release the aromatic oils.

Tung oil is a very good finish and easy to maintain. There is a polymerized tung oil called Chinawood oil. Chinawood oil is another name for tung oil, which has been used by the Chinese for centuries. The polymerized tung oil is a little harder, dries faster with more shine than regular tung oil. You can read about polymerizing on our web page Tung oil.

Tung oil finish is easy to repair, just rub with 0000 steel wool and another application of tung oil usually takes care of it. If you go over the whole surface once a year with 0000 steel wool and apply tung oil the cedar chest will stay new looking for years.

Color, Make your furnishings speak

Blue is one of the primary colors and is cool to cold, depending on the shade. It's surprising how much more chilly you feel with lots of blue around in the winter or how much more comfortable you feel in the heat of summer with lots of blue.

A light sky blue gives a feeling of peace and tranquility. If your kitchen is a nice buttery yellow and has a lot of sunshine through the windows it will give a feeling of warmth and vibrance, but if you want a more tranquil feeling in an adjacent dining area or a dining area in the kitchen, where the kids will slow down a bit, paint a table and chairs a light blue to give a feeling of a quiet lake in a sunny meadow. A darker shade of blue will give more of a feeling of authoritative tranquillity.

See more information about painting wood furniture below.

Color is used by some for treatment of various ailments. If you have an owey or a burn, don't thumb your nose at a doctor, paint a room blue and sit in the middle of it. Color has lots of effect on mood and feeling, which in turn can have an effect on your feeling of well being, which in turn can help with healing, but doctors and nurses are necessary to have around while you're recuperating nicely in a restful blue room. Blue is said to relieve pain and burns, will reduce bleeding and will help lower high blood pressure, relieve asthma and other respiratory problems.

An interesting effect on wood furniture is a color stain or dye, which will still allow the wood grain and some wood tones to show through, then a clear finish to protect it.

Always remember the main point in making color choices is your personal preference. Just because someone predicts that a color will be "in" doesn't mean that it will be good for you if you don't like it. Your colors are your colors, no matter what.

Quick tip

If a candle drips wax on a furniture finish, apply an ice cube to the wax and let it harden. Generally you can flick the wax off with a fingernail. Don't worry about the shiny spot, it's just wax like you might apply to give a shine. The shiny spot can be removed with a good furniture cleaner

Painting wood furniture

Painting some wood furniture may seem like the cat's meow at the time, but you may change your mind later, so give yourself lots of leeway for changes.

If you paint bare raw wood the pigments from the paint will soak into the wood and that can make for a very difficult time if you want a natural wood finish later.

Sealing the wood with a clear finish will help if it comes time to strip paint to change to a natural wood finish. Shellac is always a good sealer and makes a good base for just about any paint. Shellac is easily sanded and generally one coat will do the job of wood sealing and paint base preparation.

If your furniture piece has a clear finish without any missing finish it's an ideal base for painting. The finish needs to be absolutely clean using a furniture cleaner, rather than just soap and water. Sand the old finish lightly with 180 to 220 grit sandpaper to give the paint a surface to stick to and then paint it.

If there is some missing clear finish in places, but the old finish is mostly sound you can build up several coats of shellac in the places missing finish and sand smooth. After you lightly sand the whole piece it's ready for painting.

Even if you don't ever go back to a natural wood finish it's quite ofen easier to use a coat of shellac for a base than it is to use several coats of primer.

Quick Tip

When choosing picture frames it's best to go with colors that you really like, rather than the trendy "in" color of the time. Color trends for a particular period are decided by a group of decorators and those are mainly the colors which will be available for a period of time.

Of course, since you're reading this newsletter you can do your own color changing for your own desires whenever you desire to.

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