Thread: restoring English oak

1920 English oak furniture is probably early 'Art's & Crafts' although a picture or two would help.
If it is probably sealed with a shellac variant and beeswaxed. Try a little meths in a out of sight area or a soft finish remover/reviver.
If that works proceed slowly, the joints will be held together with an animal glue and you don't want to weaken them.
To refinish apply a soft wax, the old adage was 'Once a day for a week, Once a week for a month then once a month for a year.' That should build up a wonderful deep sheen and over the next 100 years a patina to be proud of.

Originally Posted by jane123

I have acquired an English oak lounge suite circa 1920. The timber is in good condition but needs cleaning (it is dusty and I would think has not been touched for many years) and some restoration. What I would like to achieve is to maximise the quality of the timber whilst not wiping out its history, a delicate balance I suspect. Can anyone advise how I can achieve this, please? I have searched this forum for answers but have only found restored pieces and unless I am mistaken they are not accompanied by how the finish was achieved. Thank you.

Hi Jane,
don't know where in Qld you are? but I run restorations classes on the Gold Coast if you think that may help. PM for more info if you wish.


Cheers


Steve

I thank you both so much for replying to my post. Dragonfly of Bristol, UK, I will do exactly as you suggest and I think you are absolutely correct, the lounge suite if of the 'art and craft' era.

Steve, unfortunately as much as I would love to attend I live some distance north of Brisbane - quite a distance from the Gold Coast.

Thank you both once again. I will send before and after photos when I finish.

Jane

Or try this. http://www.ubeaut.com.au/reviver.html

Yep, start gentle and work up.

Oak is open grained so you might try a natural bristle nail brush with the reviver, in a spot that can't be seen.

Dragonfly, I thought that regime was for oil finishes.

Any case, I might start it on something; be neat to be able to say I'm now putting on a coat a century ;-}

Saw the guy that imports Howard products to Australia do a demo on an old piece of furniture at the Renovators show in Melbourne he sure did a good job try googling Howard, his demo went on a bit but the finishes he got were tops.

As suggested:
http://www.ubeaut.com.au/reviver.html

Magic in a bottle for furniture

Have just found this forum and I am lovn it.

This thread is great as I have an old dining room table that need some TLC.

Thanks

For a 20's piece you've also got a chance it'll be coated in nitrocellulose lacquer. Whatever the finish reviver is won't hurt it if it is Nitro. May not have much effect though either. I'd be inclined to try trying to tidy it up with some very fine steel wool, and waxing as the most likely way forward.

Regards.

Is the finish dark or light? A lot of older oak pieces I've been asked to restore have had black japan wiped into the grain before finishing; either that or it's been fumed with ammonia. See what the alcohol does to the finish; hopefully it's shellac which can be cleaned and re-touched easily.

Thankyou Spectre, Zitan.

Yes Spectre, I think you are right. I think the old finish is nitrocellulose. The old finish didn't respond readily to methylated spirits. Also, Zitan, yes, I have tried japan finish with silky oak. It looked great when I finished.

However, the present project is light coloured English oak. Actually, and I know I am going to cause apoplexy among some, I have taken the entire finish off and sanded the oak to bare timber. Why? Well, I did so consciously because regardless of the market value of the human imprint I personally value more highly the timber itself. This is a suite, like much furniture of the period, that was stained with I presume an oil-based stain (that I understand is often referred to as 'mud') which obscured the grain and purported to make a beautiful timber look like a timber it was not. My final goal is to have a suite that shows a beautiful and now fairly rare and expensive timber in its very best light. I get considerable pleasure in seeing the beautiful graining and subtle colouration emerge from under the stain and varnish. My goal is to preserve and enhance both the grain and the colouration so that in years to come rather than say this is a 1920's piece of furniture with all that goes with that, people will say, this is English oak, and have some idea of the history and nature of that timber.

I realise I am probably being contentious but I would welcome the views of others with regard to this point of view. For I feel sure that many are torn between the two ideas.
Regards
Jane