Restoring old wood furniture

Leif

I'm looking around at furniture, and as I like solid wood, but antiques are a bit pricey, and not really my style, I'm looking at furniture from the last century, in particular Ercol. Does anyone know the kind of varnish used? I'm assuming polyurethane or similar rather than shellac. And how do you 'revive' an old table? Strip it, wire wool, then wax or shellac? Does the wood come up looking good? Is it very time consuming? Do you have to disassemble the table chairs, and reglue, or just leave? I've seen tables for ~£100 to £200, and chairs at ~£50 each. The tables seem to be elm tops with beech legs and frame.

Oh, and are there any other good brands around? I've seen a few nice looking Danish tables from ~50 years ago, good value seemingly.

Leif

Oh, yes, and since the work will have to be done in an unheated garage, is that an issue over the winter i.e. will the cold and possibly damp air cause problems?

Edwardia

There's an Ercol Facebook group if that helps.. people do refurb Ercol etc.

Leif

Does no-one here strip and renovate furniture?

Edwardia wrote: »

There's an Ercol Facebook group if that helps.. people do refurb Ercol etc.

Thanks. I've never used facebook. S'pose I could learn ...

frostysfinances

I strip and restore antiques as a hobby, i dont use varnishes and things though, i use proper wood oils, expensive when you have to achieve specific finishes!! Ive used standard woodstain and varnish premix before on some old haggard bannistairs before and that finished up nice, they have all different shades of wood etc on the tin, hope thats of some help,

Jx

Leif

frostysfinances wrote: »

I strip and restore antiques as a hobby, i dont use varnishes and things though, i use proper wood oils, expensive when you have to achieve specific finishes!! Ive used standard woodstain and varnish premix before on some old haggard bannistairs before and that finished up nice, they have all different shades of wood etc on the tin, hope thats of some help,
x

Yes, thank you. Do you recommend a particular way to strip wood? Do you not use shellac? Apparently that was introduced only in the early nineteenth century.

Ken68

There are pine strippers about, Lief, my neighbour had all her doors done. Somewhere in Cambridgeshire, £15 a door. Can get you the details .
Country auctions are the place to go,to buy furniture, getting less and less now. An estate agent will tell you the nearest. Most stuff is from people moving or deceased.
p.s. Dunking the furniture in acid, the preferred way of pine door strippers does loosen the joints.

Leif

Ken68 wrote: »

There are pine strippers about, Lief, my neighbour had all her doors done. Somewhere in Cambridgeshire, £15 a door. Can get you the details .
Country auctions are the place to go,to buy furniture, getting less and less now. An estate agent will tell you the nearest. Most stuff is from people moving or deceased.
p.s. Dunking the furniture in acid, the preferred way of pine door strippers does loosen the joints.

Thanks, yes I've heard that it loosens joints, presumably because it dissolves the glue.

I had a chat with my neighbour, an upholsterer, and he says not to french polish in cool conditions, or on too hot a day, so this is a summer job if done outdoors.

Norman_Castle

http://www.ercolreupholstery.com/about/ask-a-reupholstery-expert

Ercol site states their furniture is finished with wax or laquered.