Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic **FIXED!**

[lakelover]

I need to tap your ideas on this. I recently inherited a dining room set. Nothing fancy, but it's in not too bad shape and has been in the family for about 70 years, I think it was purchased from Montgomery Ward in the 1940's.

A family member was standing near the buffet, or sideboard, or whatever you want to call it depending on where you're from.... using a squirt bottle of hand sanitizer, and it over-squirted and a blob landed on the front of the door and wasn't noticed right away. I don't know how long it sat, but was still wet when it got noticed and was wiped off. Here's what it looks like, dry:

The way the alcohol in it reacted with the finish makes me wonder if it is a lacquer finish.

Any thought on how to fix this up so it's not too noticeable? I know it will be hard if not impossible to match the original finish but would like to at least make it so it's not so obvious.

Thanks.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

I'm not sure if they were using lacquer yet in the 40's. I would try a test spot with some tung oil.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Try some automobile wax/polish, may have enough polishing compound in it to remove those marks. After you get the marks off, rub the entire piece of furniture with brown shoe polish(old trick, works like a charm). Apply shoe polish to cracks and crevices with an old toothbrush, then polish with a rag.
Good Luck!

 

[lakelover]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Thanks, both good ideas, gives me a direction to go in.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Won't hurt to try a small spot with lacquer.
If it is lacquer, it will dissolve the old layer and blend with the new layer.

If nothing happens after a minute of rubbing it with a q-tip, just wipe it off.


Whatever is on there, its will be easier to spot fix than polyurethane.

FWIW- I have a late 1920's table, and 2 1980's end tables, all with old fashioned lacquer. I have learned to appreciate lacquer.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic

It might be a reaction with furniture polish, if the PO's used to wipe it down with polish often.

Pledge and other polishes (waxes) can build up a layer on the surface and this might be what's discolored. When I was a kid rolleyes I remember being bored to death at a family dinner and scraping the wax off my aunt's coffee table with my finger nail, stuff was really built up and thick. Luckily I didn't get caught, would had my butt whipped for that one...

I'm not sure what would remove the wax and get back down to the lacquered finish,,, if it is waxed. The toughest part will be matching the sheen of the finish, probably have to treat the whole piece so everything matches the same. Maybe something like this:

http://doitbest.com/Furniture+polish+and+Endust-Minwax-model-30016-doitbest-sku-789089.dib

 

[lakelover]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - FIXED!

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - FIXED!

Thanks for all the ideas, here's what I did.

I took #0000 steel wool and gently rubbed the spot and that took most of the mark off, but left it with a dull finish. Then I sprayed a little Pledge on a cloth and wiped & buffed and it looks pretty good now.

Yesterday, I got some of that hand sanitizer on an orange t-shirt and went immediately to the sink and flused it off with water, and it still took the color out of the spots. It can be nasty stuff so be careful. I don't normally go crazy with that stuff but my son's been sick and we share a computer.

But here's a good tip for hand sanitizer that you probably won't find in Hints from Heloise (who remembers that, I'm dating myself):

It's the only thing I've found that will remove the smell of gasoline from my hands.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic **FIXED!**

For future reference - alcohol will remove shellac but not lacquer or varnish; Lacquer thinner will remove shellac and lacquer but not varnish; paint remover will remove all 3. I learned this from a book I read on finishing/refinishing wood furniture and tried it. It's true and a great way to test to find out what kind of finish is on a piece.

My father-in-law was a finisher/refinisher and once told me that most commerciall produced furniture has a lacquer finish. The reason is that in a production environment, lacquer dries very quickly, more so than shellac or varnish. It is more durable than shellac but not as durable as varnish.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Spot Refinishing furniture - ideas needed w/pic **FIXED!**

For future reference - alcohol will remove shellac but not lacquer or varnish.....

Maybe it is a shellac finish, that hand sanitizer is full of acohol. It also probably had some layers of Pledge on it too. Thanks for the info, those are good guidelines.