Old wooden furniture finish restoration

[Frank Cox]

My mother can no longer live in her house, so among a great many other things (sigh) I've had to sort out her furniture and determine what to keep/what to sell/what to junk.

Anyway, I ended up keeping really nice but ancient dresser and chest of drawers that I'm going to swap out for the cheap particleboard dresser and chest of drawers that I've been using for the past 40 years or so. They weren't up to much when they were new and after 40 years they're starting to fall apart a bit anyway. I guess I got my money's worth out of them, though.

The old pieces needed some maintenance and the finish is beat up a bit. After getting the drawers back together properly and tightening some joints, it was time to tackle the ancient "immovable" dust and the finish.

After a bit of Internet research I found some magical stuff, which is the point of this post.

Old English Oil.

If you have any old and dusty looking finished wood furniture or wall panelling or whatever, this stuff cleans it up, removes any old wax or dirt or crud, shines it up and makes it into a whole new piece. I'm frankly amazed at how good the result from that stuff is. It's not hard to apply; you just have to remember to rub in the direction of the grain all the time. No circular or cross grain rubbing. The only downside is the smell. It has a strong "fake lemon" odour that I find quite disagreeable, but it (thankfully) dissipates within a couple of hours.

Over the past two days I've put two coats of this oil on my "new" furniture now and it's looking great. Much better than the grubby old stuff that I carried in here a few days ago.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

I used to use the "red oil polish" for pipe organ chests and wooden pipes. It worked to remove stains and it restored the wood surfaces. Organ chests are usually either varnished or shellac .
If the finish is still very good, you can use Guardsman products. There is a wood cleaner and also a fine polish. I use these on organ consoles and fine furniture. Those products are in spray cans.

[Jim Cassedy]

If you hadn't said "Old English Oil" - - I was going to suggest it. I had a small old wooden cabinet-thing that had had belonged to an elderly aunt and was later passed on to my mom in the 1960's, and they both used it to store sewing and sock darning supplies. I wound up with it some time in the late 70's, and it spent the next 25 years or so in the bathrooms of two apartments I had, where I used it to store toothpaste, first aid supplies, soap, etc.

When I moved into another apartment about 10years ago, I had a better place for it. But it has spent a couple of decades in a bathroom environment, where it was often exposed to dampness & actual water-splash from the shower & sink, and even a certain amount of soap-scum. It was looking it's age, and I almost tossed it when I moved.

But I knew that both my grandmother & mom used Old English on their better furniture, and I had a bottle and decided to give the cabinet a rub-down with it. The cosmetic results were immediate. It hid the water stains, and brought out the richness of the original wood, which I think is walnut. After a while, the oil would sink into the wood, and you could see some of the stains water coming back, but over the next 7 or 8 years, I rubbed the cabinet with O-E about every 3 or 4 months and in the end, the wood now has developed a more or less a 'permanent' lustere, and the water stains no longer re-appear. Now I only wipe it down once or twice a year, and it looks great.
(I'd send a picture, but at the moment temporarily living in another apartment)

I've had several other pieces of wood furniture that it's also done wonders on, and now I'm never without a bottle of it under my sink.
Once, when I had a REALLY important show to do, I wanted to look my best for the client, but I was out of shoe polish. I put a tiny bit of OE on a rag and rubbed it on my black leather shoes, and I haven't had a pair of shoes shine like that since I was in the Army. I wouldn't recommend it as regular use for shoe polish though- - the oil can rub off on light colored clothing, and since it never really 'drys' on the shoes, by the end of the day it will have attracted a certain amount of carpet fibers & dust. But if you need a good cosmetic shine for a few hours or a photo shoot- - I can highly recommend it, albeit at your own risk.