Oak Chest of Drawers advice needed

If they are solid oak then that is a good quality piece of furniture. Are you sure you wouldn't like to just wax it? Oak is beautiful and very expensive!

Hi Carby,
Unfortunately my OH (who does this kind of thing for his business) is away atm, but from memory, he applies oil prior to polishing, linseed oil I think, sparingly, and this can raise the grain so another very light sanding is needed. Sometimes he does this several times, thin coats, and sanding gently in between. This gets a really lovely smooth finish to take the wax, and really brings out the grain of the wood, which is lovely, especially with oak. Linseed oil isn't expensive, and you can get small bottles in hardware shops, B&Q type places etc. He applies it with a cloth (old rags from the house, nothing special).

Similarly, he applies the wax in a number of thin coats, buffing well in between with another, clean old rag. Don't be afraid to let it sink in a bit before polishing off. Sometimes he uses only oil (ie instead of waxing), loads of coats, it all depends on what finish he wants. There are other things he uses sometimes as well, but the pre-oiling and sanding and waxing is the more straightforward process. He is a bit of a perfectionist tbh, but could give more explicit instructions were he here. He makes things which sell for quite a lot of money in posh shops, and also does a bit of restoration for my small antiques business.

If you want to paint it, you would need to prime it instead of oiling beforehand, though if you use the new wax paints apparently you don't need to do this (??). There is a separate thread for shabby chic which gives instructions on this, it is not something we ever do.

HTH