Thread: Parker Furniture finish

firstly you cant remove surface sratches if you want a 60's look which usualy means stripping the lot.
second you will find it hard to match the top to the bottom without stripping the lot.
Good news is, 60's stuff is not usually a two pack as we know it today.
horrible stuff and hard work.
it should strip down easily with a metholine chloride stripper like poly stripper.
to get that 60's finish use a danish oil or shellac as these are easy to apply.
if you want to use a matt polyeuothane put it on with a cloth not a brush so as not to leave brush strokes.
this furniture was sprayed on for a smooth finish . to get the same look use several thin coats rather than 2 thick coats and buff between coats with 0000 steel wool.
make sure that you remove all dust and steel wool residue befote putting another coat on.

astrid

Is this table is a "super high gloss," like today's polyester piano finish ?

You can test it with some Lacquer Thinners use a Q-tip, try wiping the lacquer thinners on the back of a leg, if LT don't soften the coating, it might be a urea formaldehyde coating, which will not dissolve even if you use a methyelene chroride remover.

Scratches, can be removed from these coatings as long as the scratches are not to deep, and there is enough coating left to sand off, and then polish up the coating to the same gloss.

It would take to long to explain the process, I suggest that you do an Internet search, "repairing Polyesters and other super high gloss coatings."

Seem to think that Parker of thatera was just precatalysed Lacquer.
Easy enough to refinish

The "pre-cats" came out in the late nineties.

95% of all finishing in the 60's, was being done with nitrocellulose.

The reason I remember, the urea formaldehyde coatings was because I worked on them in the early 60's, they are be very simular to todays 2 pac polyester, polyurethane, and acrylic. They were very durable and chemical resistant, but they were impossible to repair.

I would think the finish is Nitro Cellulose Lacquer, all Parker furniture I have repaired was.

Test it by rubbing lacquer thinner or it. It should soften, do as MacS suggested on the back of a leg or somewhere not noticable. It should get sticky as the thinner will melt it. You probably won't have Lacquer thinner handy so try metho first it is not quite as strong and you may have to wet it a bit longer and rub a bit harder to get a result.

If it melts then let us know, it can be repaired fairly easy without stripping the original surface away.

Just another question onm this topic. I also want to restore a Veneer Parker Telephone table. What I am after is a nice Danish teak Oil look at the end. Is this possible?

I guess I need to strip the entire surface then use the teak oil. How will I strip back the veneer? Will metho do as a test or do I need to go staright to a thinner then use 0000 steel wool?

Thanks

Try using the 4/0 steel wool with the meth and the lacquer thinner.

You can combine these two solvent together, 50/50. I think, they work better together.

If you want to use meths to strip, soak an old towel with meths and place it flat on the top, smooth out air bubbles under the towel and keep tipping onthe meths. after half an hour or so the finish goes soft and crumbly remove it with course steel wool gently wiping with the grain dont rub hard you are only using the steel wool to catch up the old finish, not scrubit off.
paint stripper is faster but you can easily "burn the veneer with it if you leave it on too long.
the problem with the veneer is you cant sand back your mistakes too much

cheers
astrid

If it is Shellac, its a very easy strip, since alcohol dries very fast, as your brushing on the alcohol with one hand, use a plastica scraper in the other to take off soft gummy shellac, after its all off, then wash it again with a clean piece of steel wool soaked with alcohol to completely remove the rest of the shellac residue.

****Astrid, I don't know what kind of stripper you use or what type of veneers you work with, but I never heard of a stripper "burning the veneer" I have heard of strippers lifting the veneers.

The only stripper that I know that would "burn" the veneers are the old Lye hot stripping tanks, and no one strips veneers in the lye tanks.

Maybe, they do in Aussieland, if so, then I would have to apoligize.

All the Parker furniture was finished with nitro-cellular clear lacquer back then. Now if you want to just do a quick cheapo repair that will cover most light scratches ( I mean scratches, not gouges ) try using Marveer furniture polish. You can get it from Woolworths for about $6 a bottle. I have been in the furniture business for years and the old Marveer trick has hidden many a scratch on tabletops and arms of chairs when they have been ready to be delivered. And believe me, it really works.
Neil.

drop a splash of MC on raw timber, leave half an hour wipe off
will leave darker patch.
Of course "professionals" never get called away by their kids in the middle of a strip job do they??

astrid

I restored a Chiswell 60s buffet by rubbing back with metho and steel wool then recoating with Danish Oil. It was in pretty atrocious condition though (hence the bargain price of $40 ).

I am planning to refinish a matching dining suite which has been in my family since new and will probably go the same route.

Steph

Steph,

I know you must have felt real good when you completed the buffet.

Good luck to you on the dining room suite.

Just curious, how much was the cost of materials for the buffet.

Mac S

I have it written down somewhere but from memory
- metho
- length of Tas Oak moulding for back edge (veneer damaged) plus stain to match teak
- filler to patch small areas of veneer damage and holes where old dowel handles removed (several were already broken off)
- 1L of Danish Oil and some dark FW Carnauba Wax for finishing
- 5x new handles approx $6-7 each
- already had on hand glue for re-glueing one leg which was a tad wobbly, steel wool and several old T-shirts for applying finish

All up including the buffet about $250 I guess and it's an 8-foot long one too . Pics in my Flickr projects set.

Steph