How To Repair Wooden Furniture

Looking for practical advice on how to restore wood furniture? You've come to the right place. Neglected one-time wooden furniture oft suffers from a build-up of dirt and grime, with the diminished colour and lustre resulting in a irksome advent. With this in mind, owners of antique piece of furniture are often left wondering how to restore old forest furniture (oft much treasured pieces) to their former glory.

Thankfully, restoring forest furniture is quite easily done and nosotros've created this easy to follow guide so that when you come up to restore article of furniture, you'll know what to do for ultimate success. What'south more, with restoration furniture seemingly always at the forefront of habitation trends – in both period and contemporary properties – and therefore, more costly to purchase, at present y'all tin save on something cute by simply creating your own.

See our guide on caring for, cleaning and polishing wood furniture if you've more modern pieces around the home.

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The mahogany writing desk in this project below had ugly watermarks that marred the top that also needed attention. While it's easy to restore old wooden furniture on a DIY basis, we'd e'er recommend ensuring you use the correct products. Our guide below talks you through furniture renovation and cleaning washed professionally.

Once you're done, see all our cleaning buys, how-tos and hacks to help go along the rest of your habitation sparkling. Looking for more expert advice on antique piece of furniture restoration perhaps, and all things period properties – both interior and outside? Head over to our Period Living hub page.

Everything you will need to restore quondam wooden furniture:

Work gloves
Dust mask
Paintbrushes
Proprietary chemical stripper and stripping tool
Wax and polish remover and fine steel wool (0000 gauge)
Fine glasspaper and sanding block
Wood dye
Forest restorer/ finishing oil
Wax polish
Tack cloth and lint-free cloth

How to restore old wooden furniture: step-by-step instructions

1. Gear up for stripping back

Stripping furniture is messy, but key to wood restoration, so work outside if possible. If working indoors, protect the floors and any article of furniture nearby and ensure good ventilation. To avoid damaging the stop on the trunk of the table, cover information technology in a plastic canvas so that merely the top is exposed. Apply stripper liberally with an old brush.

How to restore old wooden furniture: first step to restoration

2. Allow layers to dissolve

For a good result when refinishing woods, get out the stripper on for betwixt five and 30 minutes until the stop – a mix of old varnish and polish – has dissolved. The length of time will depend on the composition and thickness of the blanket. If the stripper hasn't removed all the layers just re-spread the paste and information technology will go on to piece of work.

How to restore old wooden furniture: second step to restoration — Refinishing woods article of furniture may seem like an art simply is easily done.

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iii. Neutralise the chemic stripper

Neutralise the wood with a pad of steel wool soaked in white spirit or proprietary wax and polish remover, following the grain of the woods. Earlier using any chemic ever read the label advisedly equally dissimilar strippers require different neutralisers. Failure to neutralise stripper tin can allow it to reactivate and your wood restoration may non get to programme.

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four. Clean off the residue of the tabular array:

The side by side step to refinish piece of furniture is to wipe away residues with cotton rags and leave for 24 hours. Meanwhile make clean abroad dirt and former smoothen elsewhere past applying wax remover to a steel wool pad or coarse fabric and working in small-scale areas at a fourth dimension. Leave for a few minutes to soften the wax and wipe away with a make clean cloth earlier it solidifies.

How to restore old wooden furniture: steps to restoration

5. Return to the tabletop

24 hours subsequently stripping the tabletop, use a sanding block and very fine glasspaper to smooth over the wood fibres raised during the stripping process – work with the grain. Shake and vacuum the protective sheet to become rid of grit that could spoil the finished piece. Finally wipe the top with a tack cloth.

6. Tackle areas of bleached wood

When y'all restore furniture, you'll notice that every piece is unlike to tackle. Here for instance, for many years the tabular array was sited below a window and the sun has bleached part of the wood, so applying a mahogany woods dye volition brand the acme a uniform color. Apply generously with a castor and allow stain to penetrate; wipe away excess with a material. Ensure an even finish by working in a good light.

7. Improve the sheen and finish when refinishing wood

One time dry, apply a coat of finishing oil using a brush or lint-gratuitous cloth. Allow oil to penetrate for 10 minutes and wipe away the surplus earlier it goes sticky. Wait for at least five hours and gently rub with 0000 gauge steel wool before applying a further glaze; repeat once again – the more coats the greater the durability and sheen.

8. The final bandbox upwards with wood restorer

Finally, sparingly apply a thin coat of skilful furniture wax over the whole tabular array. Exit for an hour at least and polish with a lint-complimentary fabric. To avoid warping caused by drying out of the wood, position piece of furniture abroad from radiators and fires. Sunlight volition bleach the wood, so ensure it'south non placed below a window

Home remedies for restoring one-time wooden furniture

There are a couple more tricks y'all tin use to restore furniture at home. You can remove surface dirt and old layers of wax polish with a domicile-fabricated mix of four parts white spirit to one part of linseed oil. If the stop is however looking a fleck lifeless, pour some proprietary woods reviver onto a cotton fabric and buff vigorously.

One such remedy which works when refinishing wood article of furniture is: