Hello,

If you are reading this message, your browser is not accepting javascript.

Without the script, a number of features on this site are not visible. These include pictures that go with the text.

If you have a warning bar at the top of the page, click on the bar and then click the "Allow Blocked Content" Option to see this web page correctly. To disable the script blocking feature of your browser, click on the "Information Bar Help" and follow the steps listed.

This site is best viewed using the latest version of Internet Explorer. For larger text, go to the control panel in your Windows (Start, Control Panel, Display, Settings) and set the resolution to 800 x 600 (though 1024 x 768 looks pretty good also).

Hope you enjoy the site. Thanks for visiting!

Paul Snyder

Furniture Refinishing & Restoration

How to refinish and/or restore wood furniture, antiques, cabinets, and architectural woodwork.

Site Navigation
Main Navigation Home Page Q&A Forum Articles Define Antique Is Refinishing Bad? Repair vs. Refinish Cleaning Antiques Stripping Furniture

Is It Valuable?

What is your old furniture worth? Do you have a treasure on your hands?

If you don't know the age or value of the piece you plan to work on, find out before you do anything. Though it's rare to stumble across an historically valuable antique, it does still happen and you don't want to ruin it by altering or removing its original finish. This goes for painted pieces as well; paint was a common finish in the past and the original paint, no matter how degraded it may be, is vital to the value of some antique pieces.

Your local library and/or bookstore is a good place to start your research; there are many books on the subject. If you believe you have a valuable piece, you can get an appraisal done by an accredited member of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), International Society of Appraisers (ISA), and/or Appraisers Association of America (AAA). Check with local museums for referrals or the yellow pages for appraiser listings in the nearest large cities.

If you are fortunate to come across a treasure, all work, including cleaning, should be left to a professional restorationist or conservator. Even if it's been painted over by previous owners, let a pro do the work. There are techniques than can sometimes be used to selectively remove layers of paint or finish while leaving the original finish intact. In fact, paint can sometimes work to protect an original finish!

Main Article

Choose Your Best Option - Refresh, Repair, or Refinish

If you haven't read the article "Is Refinishing Bad?" (see link at left), you may be wondering whether or not you should attempt to do any work on your old or antique piece of furniture. Reading that article, along with the information in the left column on this page that discusses some steps to find out if it is valuable, is a good place to start. If you have a truly valuable antique or collectible, you should not consider doing ANY work to it at all. In these rare cases, you will only reduce its value if you modify the condition it's in, no matter how poorly you may think it looks. And that advice goes for antique painted pieces as well.

Hopefully at this point you've done your homework and found out your project isn't a rare or historical antique or collectible. You know that it's just a nice piece of furniture that looks like it needs some help. Restoring it to make it usable or more attractive is a great option and if you're a "do it yourself" kind of person you'll find the experience rewarding. Depending on the condition it's in, there are three broad categories to restoring an old piece of furniture. These are;

Keep the existing finish. Clean and wax to give it a rejuvinated look.
Perform touch-ups to the existing finish to renew damaged/worn areas.
Refinish it. Remove the old finish and apply a new one.

Step #1 - Evaluate the Existing Finish

If you're not sure what needs to be done just by looking at the item, then take a more scientific approach. Start by inspecting the finish to see what flaws it has and how serious they are. Keep in mind that the purpose of a finish is not only to make the furniture look good, but also to protect the wood from moisture, dirt, stains, scratches, etc.. If the existing finish cannot do this, it needs to be replaced.

Indications Refinishing is the Best Option

It's pretty easy to tell when refinishing is the best option. These are common signs to look for;

The finish is coming off in flakes or sheets.
The finish is crazed/cracked all the way down to the wood.
The finish is sticky (after cleaning).
The clear coats have turned dark and hide the wood.
The finish has unsightly blemishes that aren't removed by cleaning.
The wood has dark patches or rings under the finish.
It just looks horrible and you want to refinish it.

A finish can fail for lots of reasons. As they age, shellac, lacquer, and varnish become more brittle. Old varishes are especially prone to crazing and cracking with age. Sometimes you'll find cracks that follow grain lines, often on the flat tops of tables and dressers or chests. It's not unusual for the finish to be flaking around these cracks. Sometimes sections of finish can flake off where the finish lost adhesion to the wood. Water and sunlight (UV radiation) are common sources of this failure. In other cases finish is missing as a result of some abuse that scraped it off, or over the years, it just got worn off.

Occasionally lacquer gets sticky, especially in spots that get touched or handled a lot. This problem has to be verified after cleaning, just in case the stickiness washes off, but if the finish itself is sticky, it has undergone a chemical breakdown that is irreversible.

It's pretty common for furniture that was finished or refinished in the late 1800s through the early 1900s (up to the 30s and 40s) to turn dark, even opaque in some cases. The old finish actually hides the wood. These pieces may not seem to look horrible with the semi-transparent finish on them, but the improvement from refinishing is often dramatic.

Problems that Can be Repaired

There are lots of finish problems that can be corrected or repaired. If the finish is mostly intact and looks pretty good, performing touch-ups will save you the effort of a complete refinish job. Here's are a few of the common problems that can be fixed;

Most white or milky rings.
Areas where the finish is worn.
Minor crazing that doesn't go through to the wood.
Nicks, scratches, dings, and other minor blemishes.
Dull and lifeless appearance.

Rejuvinating a Dull & Lifeless Finish

If the finish is in good shape but just looks 'tired,' you can really give it some life by cleaning and waxing it. The cleaning will remove any surface dirt and grime and the wax will give the finish the optical clarity it needs to reveal the beauty of the wood.

Bulletin Board
Q&A Forum Can't find the information you're looking for in the articles? Then check out our bulletin board where experts freely share their wealth of knowledge and experience. Helpful Hint - Do a quick search before posting to see if your question has been asked before.

A Suggestion

Start Small

Refinishing and restoration work, like all skills, takes practice to master. If you start with smaller, less demanding projects, it will give you a better chance to succeed without becoming overwhelmed.

Choose items that don't have intricate details, turnings, carvings, or many small angular surfaces that are more difficult to work with than straight, flat surfaces. Keep it simple to start with and work your way up to more demanding pieces over time.

Home | Glossary | Q&A Forum