Pine furniture - how to rescue it please?

susieb1967

tifrap wrote: »

A good approach, as has been said above, is to use wire wool first, not too coarse, then use some wax.

There are a couple of tricks that you can use that antique restorers use too.
First dont use beeswax - use Briwax (clear) - it is formulated to be suitable as a first coat and a top coat. it contains a mixture of beeswax, parafin wax and carnuba wax, each does a specific job.

Once you have got any obvious grime off of the old furniture with wire wool,
grab a big hunk of wire wool and use it to apply the first coat of briwax with, this will mix with the wood dust that it generates and act as a grain sealer. the hunk of wire wool will become like a pad after a while, this pad gets better as you use it. give it a thorough going over with this abrasive waxer, it'll merge in any old wax and even out any colour oddities.

then leave that wax to harden.

Next wipe it very lightly with one of those green scouring pads, just enough to take off any thick deposits of the wire applied wax (the good stuff will be finely filling the surface grain).
once the whole peice of furniture is done get a big soft peice of cotton, not fluffy, old bed sheets or shirts are good. scoop out a chunk of briwax and apply it liberally to the surface, working it in, but not attempting to polish yet. you should aim to leave a thin even covering of the wax. you will get a feel for how quickly the wax dries as you use it, if it starts to develop a shine, it is too dry - scoop some more from the tub to wetten it.

Leave the wax to dry, an hour or so - overnight if you have the patience.

Now buff it up, with a soft cloth (fluffy is ok now) or a mop-head on a drill, if you like a shine. thats it.
some people do a couple of waxings, taking the previous one down with fine wire wool, you could do more, but I think just one, a fairly thin finish looks best, not too shiny.

:T couldnt have said it better myself!!!!- top advice- follow this and you cant go wrong!!

tifrap_2

Thanks for the encouragement Susieb1967 :j

VickyA wrote: »

Thank you very much to all those people who have taken the time to reply so fully. It looks like I've got a big job to do this weekend with all the pine furniture that we have! :beer:

VickyA - Once you've got the hang of it, it'll take no time at all - besides its fairly clean work, so you could pick on a bit of furniture whenever the fancy takes you.

If you've got a lot to do it might be worth buying one of the BIG tins of Briwax, works out loads cheaper, if memory serves.

ERICS_MUM

You've all given so much good advice on this thread, so I'm hoping you could offer a bit more.

I have tried to look after my pine furniture for years by regularly polishing with a spray wax polish. I think now that so many layers of wax have built up and it seems to affected the surface - a residue attracts and holds onto stains, feels a bit tacky and looks a bit smear-y.

Do I need to follow the procedures described so clearly earlier in this thread or is there a short -cut just to clean the surface so I can "start again" with the wax polish (more sparingly ).

Many thanks

Linda :T