Thread: How much cleaning is too much on antiques...

Originally Posted by Anotherplane

I have a few pieces of antique furniture that I am going to work on. They are in good general condition but they are very dark and the grain is nearly obscured. I tried some Propriety Rustins surface cleaner but that just removed any residual wax

I have in the past used a mix of 3rd's Turpentine, BLO and metho and applied with 0000 steel wool and this brought back the golden hues rather than the dark brown and also made the grain reappear and didn't take away from the patina. Before I use this method again are there any other remedies for cleaning back dark brown mahogany ?

These are all Georgian pieces and were bought at auctions and will be lifetime purchases ( keepers )

Just realised maybe this should be on the Restoration section ??

Got some photos?

A lot of Georgian mahogany furniture was finished with a dark shellac (probably button lac). If you search on button lac you will understand why that is probably how it came from the original workshop.

Most likely a combination of stain, dark shellac and years of built-up of staining like smoke from open fires, cigarette smoke, wax, dust etc. Polish Reviver works brilliantly to get rid of all but the dark shellac and stain.

Mahogany was often chemical dyed with the likes of potassium bichromate/dichromate which reacted with the tannin content of mahogany to darken the light colour and initially bring out the depth of colour whilst darken it quite dramatically.

If liquid nightmare* was used as a dye it would react with the tannin and almost ebonize the mahogany.

Not much other than fully stripping and sanding back will lighten a chemical dye a they are often applied hot or warm to drive them deeper into the grain of the wood.

Maybe what you have in the darker timber is the original colouring and should be kept as it is after cleaning. The Polish Reviver will rid you of everything all the way back to the original shellac finish unless it had been restored previously and has been french polished over the original finish.

Not sure what the Reviver would do over Rustins cleaner should get rid of all build-ups of wax, Mr Sheen, Marveer, smoke and dust build-ups etc, etc. without hurting the shellac/French polish. However Rustins may have already done all that for you.

Hope this is of some help or interest.

Cheers - Neil

*Liquid nightmare: Originally a mixture of metal shavings, water, and possibly some urine from the water bath below wet stone grinding wheel used for sharpening tools (commonly made today with steel wool and vinegar)