Repairing Old Furniture

[Dan England]

I purchased a couple of very old beds (head and foot boards and frames) at a yard sale recently. I would think that they are fifty, maybe seventy-five years old and appear to have spent the last decade or so in a dirty shed or barn. After using a brush and blower to remove as much dirt as possible, is there a soap which can be used to wash the remaining accumulation from the surface of the furniture, one which will not damage the wood. The unit which I am currently cleaning has a dark reddish-brown color, maybe from a mahagony stain. At some time in the past it must have been in a room where white paint was being applied as the headboard has dozens of white paint spots on it. The spots range from pinhead size to the size of the head of a kitchen match. What can I use to soften and remove the white paint without also removing the furniture stain? Your advice is appreciated. Dan

[Rudi]

I purchased a couple of very old beds (head and foot boards and frames) at a yard sale recently. I would think that they are fifty, maybe seventy-five years old and appear to have spent the last decade or so in a dirty shed or barn. After using a brush and blower to remove as much dirt as possible, is there a soap which can be used to wash the remaining accumulation from the surface of the furniture, one which will not damage the wood. The unit which I am currently cleaning has a dark reddish-brown color, maybe from a mahagony stain. At some time in the past it must have been in a room where white paint was being applied as the headboard has dozens of white paint spots on it. The spots range from pinhead size to the size of the head of a kitchen match. What can I use to soften and remove the white paint without also removing the furniture stain? Your advice is appreciated. Dan

Dan:

Quick answers..

1. Murphy's Oil Soap.. pretty good stuff... use it especially on old pews !
2. The white spots are most likely not white paint, but silicone build up from Momma's little helpers -- Endust, Favor, Pledge etc.... furniture's worst enemy. I do not allow spray polishes in my house period, and neither does EM. For wax we use Carnauba wax...
3. To remove silicone spots, I will probably have to look up my recipe book, but I do know this.. you can use mineral spirits, denatured alcohol etc., to remove the silicone.. but you have to be sure of the underlying finish before you use a specific agent.

Hope this helps.

[Dan England]

Rudi: I do appreciate your help on cleaning the beds. Would you check to see if you have additional info on removing silicone spots. Thanks, Dan

[Jeff Silvey]

Dan:
I found an old coaster wagon in a barn that had a lot of mice traffic if you know what I mean. It was real dirty & I didn't want to destroy the words or what paint there was. I went to an antique store to look at antique's I ask the owner if he had any suggestions on referbing the wagon. He showed me the stuff he used. I have seen this stuff before. Kramer's Best Antique Improver This stuff is great. You can get it at any antique store or antique strip mall.
Hope this helps.
I would reframe from useing alot of water.
jeff

[Dan England]

Jeff: Yes, your info does help. Is this a liquid and do I mix it with water?

[Jeff Silvey]

Dan:
Its already mixed for use. Just follow direction on bottle. It is a liquid. Works great.
jeff

[Rudi]

A couple things to keep in mind when using these so-called wonder products. Unless you know the chemical composition of the finish, and how the finish will react to the chemical compositon of the wonder product, you risk destroying the underlying finish as well as the patina.

Murphy's Oil Soap is a pretty benign solution and has been proven both anecdotally and empirically over the last century. There are a few other products out there that work as well, but I do not use a lot, as I much prefer to use the time honoured ones.

The problem today is the EPA and California's rabid demand for so-called Environmentally Friendly solutions to everything. Common sense aside, many company's rush to market these new fangled other wonder products that claim to work, but have no empirical data let along the only data many professional restorers treasure -- historical anecdotal data.

Here are a couple more guidelines when deciding what to put on furniture etc...

1. Always use the most benign compound you can find. IE.. Wood Alcohol is about as natural as you are going to get, because it is actually naturally occuring and it is pretty abundant.
2. When choosing a commercial product, again look for PROVEN products that are a benign as possible.
3. Always remember that finishes from 50 to 100 years ago were not catalytics nor polymers. They were predominantly celluloid based such as Lacquer, Shellac and of course the Varnishes.
4. Remember that whatever you put on will determine what you get as an end product.

Here are a couple more possibles from the top of my head that may be useful:

Methyl Hydrate (use in a well ventilated area and according to the instrucitons on the label)
Bleach (yes.. good old Javex.. very very light mixture -- 1:10 is sufficient to remove most mice dropping residues and is pretty benign. Chlorine is a natural element and it is used to shock well systems and get rid of fungi, bacterial and viral infestations)
Ammonia is also good, but must be handled with care. It is also natural, and it will remove a good portion of the silicone... Windex uses ammonia as a primary agent.
Simple Green would be a pretty good choice.
Mr. Clean
Pine Sol
Lemon Oil

Dan I did have a look.. and my memory served me pretty well. The tricks my Dad used were essentially light amounts of lacquer thinner on a clean white cloth. He also used a thin putty knife to LIGHTLY scrape/lift of the larger spots, then lightly with the clean rag, clean the area you just scraped. It may appear dull for a bit, but that is fine. A good thin putty knife can be your friend. After this first cleaning with the putty knife, lacquer thinner and patience, he lightly wiped a cloth a little damper with thinners over all of the piece being cleaned. Then he used either a little bleach in water or Murphy's depending what he had on hand. On a piece he was not going to strip and refinish, but just clean and restore the lustre - he would then use either Lemon Wax but most often a light mixture of Carnauba cream was. This need only be used once every year or so.. a nice buffing after, then light dusting with a clean, slighly damp cloth will go a long way to preserving the finish.

He always shied away from commercial preparations for cleaning and stuck to what his masters in Europe taught him. And my feeling is ifn it was good enough for a Master Cabinetmaker from Europe.. it is definitely Good Enough for ME

[Dennis]

Dan - is the headboard solid wood or does it have veneers? This could make a BIG difference in how you want to clean them.

Dennis

WikiTractors.Com

[Dan England]

Dennis: It has a veneer. Any advice on cleaning it? Dan

[Rudi]

Dan:

For veneers, you do it the exact same way. Most headboards in the last 75 years especially that are factory made.. all utilize some form of veneer with either a solid, finger or laminated core. Unless the veneer is lifting, then it WILL NOT be a problem. Very, very few are solid stock and those that are are either massive or very expensive....

As per normal, when working with veneers.. don't sand.., don't pick, don't scrape with a scraper... use a good flexible putty knife carefully.

And do try to stay away from those commercial concoctions. In over 45 years of working with furniture in restorations, repair, reproduction and custom one-off pieces, I have only ever had one piece with veneer lift when using bleach to kill bacteria.. that isn't too bad.

And I have done a few pieces to say the least..

Let us know how it all works out..

[Dan England]

When working with older furniture pieces, one often finds that the veneer has buckled, probably from being exposed to very humid air. Is there a process by which the veneer layer can be flattened and re-glued to restore it to the original condition? If yes, would you comment on the process. Thanks, Dan

[Rudi]

Dan:

Most definitely.

The major cause of buckling for veneered surfaces is the adhesive used and the oft case of furniture being stored in a basement, garage, attic, barn etc..... where humidity and constant change in temperature adversely affects the adhesives cohesive properties with the materials being held together.

You will find that many of the older pieces especially used hide glues (which are always applied hot from a glue applicator (in a factory) or from a simple pot on an element with a brush in a small shop. Hide glue is notorious for separation under humid conditions.. mostly because it is made from animal hide.

To repair a bubble or buckle... first balance the humidity. This is done by acclimatising the piece by storing it flat, with good cross ventilation (in the case of your headboard, lay it on a pair of covered saw horses.. and if there is a second one, sticker between the two) for about 4 days to a week. This will allow the veneer to stabilize and for the most part - shrink. The bubble or buckle is cause by the veneer swelling from the moisture.

Then, with a razor blade or a good exacto type knife or a veneer knife, using a straight edge.. make an incision in the buckle or bubble about 75% of the length of the bubble/buckle. Lay a sheet of wax paper over the affected area. Lay a piece of say 1/2" or 3/4" sheet goods over the wax paper. Lay a good heavy weight on top. Make sure the piece does not sag causing a concave settlement. Support if necessary. Leave for a day or so. Check and see if the veneer has returned to it's proper place.

If so, then you can inject a good casein based glue.. white preferrable and definitely NOT the yellow carpenter's glue. Hide glue would be best, but many non-professional restoration shops do not have hide glue chips. Inject with a hypodermic needle. Re-apply the wax paper, the sheet goods and the weight. Let dry and cure for 24 hours. Voila.. buckle/bubble gone.

If, the bubble/buckle has not returned to it's proper plane, then very carefully, make a secondary parallel slice in the veneer about 1/64" or about .5mm apart from the first incision. Remove waste. Proceed with above paragraph.

You should have a fixed headboard the next morning.

[Dan England]

Rudi: Again, thanks for the information. A couple of quick questions. You indicated that if two bubbles were present, I should place a sticker between the two. What is a sticker, just something to mark the location of the bubbles? Also, would you suggest a good casein based glue? I will be in touch later today but am now off to north Louisiana to pick up a grader/snow blade which I purchased for the Cub. Dan

[Rudi]

Rudi: Again, thanks for the information. A couple of quick questions. You indicated that if two bubbles were present, I should place a sticker between the two. What is a sticker, just something to mark the location of the bubbles? Also, would you suggest a good casein based glue? I will be in touch later today but am now off to north Louisiana to pick up a grader/snow blade which I purchased for the Cub. Dan

Dan:

Cool, have fun getting the blade. Gord and I have just about got our McCormick-Deering Blades all done... the only thing I am missing is the two lift rods... I am hoping to be able to find them while I am in the US...
Ours are all painted a nice red btw... Gord's is CaseIH 2150 with Centari hardner and reducer and mine is Nason FulCryl II with Nason Activator and Reducer. There is a colour difference.... but just a shade or two...

Anyways.. for your questions.

When I was refering to the bubbles/buckles and stuff, I was referring to the 2 headboards... If both have similar problems, then you can do both at the same time, saving shop space and time.

Now a sticker well it can be anything that will provide an air gap. I personally use 3/8"x3/8" SPF or any other stock such as Oak, Maple (these are all cut-offs or essentially scrap that would go to the furnace), that I run through my thickness planer. Make em all the same size. I put them in between each layer of lumber that I am air drying, or between multiple tops that I have been laminating etc.

And a good caesin glue would be basically Lepage's Bondfast White Glue which I have used for 40 years....



Now I just learned something. Seems LePage's has been swallowed up by the very same company that owns LocTite

Seems also that LePage's is the same as the Robertson Screw. A Canadian product that is awesome and has been around since before the Chicago Cubs won their last World Series.. is NOT available in the US. If you want a bottle or two, let me know and I will bring it to Cecil's. You can then try it and see what you think.

As an aside, when I worked for Don Roser in Glendora Ca and RB Phillips in Pasedena (high end fixture shops), all they used was #6 drywall Phillips head screws... or wood screws.. which I will not use ever.. So I had my Mom ship me two cases of the most common Robertsons going.. 1-1/4" and 1-1/2" #8 Robertson screws, so I could workk faster and feel more confident.. especially with the snapping issue.

This is a Robertson Screw home. In the US they are marketed under the ubiquitous misnomer - Square Drive Screw. In the late 80's they started advertising them as the Amazing and New Design - The Square Drive Screw... hmmmmmm...

Oh well, at least you have access to em.. now I am off of my

[Dan England]

Rudi: Well, I brought the grader blade home this afternoon. I has been sitting outside for several years but seems generally to be in good shape. Still a lot of paint on the rear side of the blade. Also bought a middlebuster and a moldboard type plow. The two plows were not made for the Cub but have been modified to fit. I am busy for the next couple or three days but want to ask more questions about restoring old furniture. Would it be better if I went offline with the questions? I have mixed feelings as I often find the subjects discussed here to be of interest to me and there may be several people who are interested in your responses to my questions. Let me know. Dan