r/furniturerestoration

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This time with pictures!

Deer hive mind,

I wish to restore a 19th century French Gothic revival piece. I am not certain as to the wood, but I believe it is oak. The piece has been neglected for half a century, and kept very dry.

My instinct after gentle cleaning is to oil it, but brief searches indicate that linseed would cause discoloration, and instead ample use of furniture wax type products are recommended.

My question, is if linseed oil would be of benefit upon the interior surfaces, of which there is no special finish to disturb. My intention is to counterman the great spell of dryness it has suffered internally, not simply to protect the exterior.

I welcome any thoughts or recommendations. Thank you!

I just stripped layers of cheap pink enamel off of this rocking chair and am not sure what species of wood this is made of. It actually seems to be a bit darker than these pictures make it appear. Blotchy as well, making me think it was a lighter wood that had a cheap dark stain applied unevenly, but when I looked under the seat (who stains the bottom of a chair ¯_ (ツ)_/¯ ), it made me wonder if it was a naturally dark wood that had some bleached-out areas.

My thought was that it might be maple but would appreciate any insights. Thanks

The upholstered cushion came undone from the chair frame and I have no clue how to repair! I already attempted to use krazy glue and that failed. The chair is an original MCM piece.

I accidentally spilled acetone nail polish remover yesterday onto this chest. I bought restore a finish and rubbed the product on the spots using a paper towel but I don’t see any improvement.

any tips on what else I can do to remove these stains?

Hi, I inherited a Lane burlwood cabinet, but the top had red wax spilled on it at one point. Whatever was sitting on top of the veneer has been scraped off, and I tried putting paper towels and a paper bag on top while running an iron over it to remove remaining wax, but that didn’t do much. Any advice?

EDIT - Claude told me to try denatured alcohol. That and a fine steel wool did the trick!

Any advice is appreciated!

New here. I’m not sure who in my family originally bought this, when or where, but I have confirmed it is a brass top. I have a few questions. And I assume this is an antique and not a modern furniture maker.

1. Does anyone have any insight on this table (i.e., is it a piece from some famous furniture maker or similar)?

Aesthetically speaking, s

1. hould I keep the black paint on it and let it chip away like it is now? Or should I take the paint off and polish it up?
2. If I keep the paint on it, should I let the brass continue to tarnish, or should I polish the visible brass areas? And do we think if I used polish it would deteriorate the paint in any way?
3. My dog - who I love very much but still can’t look at if he’s close to the table - chewed this part up as a puppy. Any suggestions on how to repair or replace the chewed up part?

Thank you

EDIT - the side of the table is the same black-painted brass as the top but none of it is scratched off

I just got this old card catalog.It's gotten heavy use and It's not in great condition and there's nothing valuable about it to the best of my knowledge. I just want to make it look better, sand it down, remove the blemishes and scratches, re-stain it, etc. and then use it to store things.

I've never refinished anything before, but I watched a few youtube videos, I've read quite a bit on this subreddit, and it looks doable. I think it will be beautiful and it seems like a fun project.

Looks like solid wood, no veneer, but I don't know what kind of wood it is.

My plan was just to sand it down and re-stain it.

Looking on this subreddit, it sounds like maybe my next course of action depends on what kind of stain this is. Does it actually matter, and if so, how do I figure it out?

Should I strip it with a chemical first or just sand it down? I gather from this subreddit citrus-based stripper isn't a good choice, so what should it be stripped with if anything?

The hardware seems like it's in good enough condition to me tho i may have to unscrew it to sand the fronts of the drawers underneath the brass.

The front panel of a couple of the drawers are split. I'm ok with that, or is there something I should (or even can?) do to those to improve them?

There's also some damage to the wood between the drawers in a couple areas (see photos) that I'm not sure is repairable. Should I just sand that down too and stain it like everything else?

Anything else you'd do to this cabinet (or NOT do)?

Thank you!

Real leather, but all scratched up. Any way to even it out to a solid natural color?

Hey guys, new here so I hope this is allowed, if not please feel free to remove this!

I got a nice piece of furniture but unfortunately it broke during the moving of it… Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks in advance!!

I picked up this lovely little drawer cabinet combo on fb marketplace today. I could see it in the pictures that it maybe looked a little dry/ in need of oil, but now I can really tell that it has this cream yellow, gummy varnish painted on it.

The person who sold it to me got it from another family who bought it in the 60s.

Whatever this coating is, it’s easy to scratch off, but does anyone know what is it and what might be the best (easiest) way to get it all off?

Image 2 is where I scratched it with my fingernail. Image 3 is the coating on a black background. It sticks to itself and maybe feels waxy?

Then, once it’s off, would it be ok to put this little mineral oil + beeswax combo I use for my cutting boards all over it? Or is there something that would be better?

Edited to add more info re: images

Can anyone offer any advice for a beginner on the best way to restore the chipping finish on this table? I inherited this table with its set of chairs that I really love and would really like to clean it up, but have no idea where to start. It seems like the finish is chipping off in a few spots and I'm not sure if this is something I can touch up or if the whole thing needs to be refinished.

I've never done anything like this before, so I'd appreciate any advice on whats going on and the best way to fix it without messing it up. Thanks!

I recently got this Chromcraft table for free. Thought it was a score and oh I could just give it a good wipe. Ummm NO. I have no clue what I'm doing. I have no tools. Please lead me in the right direction to shine this up. Or if its even fixable. Last photo is what it's supposed to look like.

The white gunk is hard all over. Also what are those darker gray specks? they are rough to the touch.

I tried the aluminum foil ball trick but it seems to only be laying gray colored power on the white stuff not taking it off.

Took this off the in-laws when they replaced it w/ a laminate table because i thought it was well made and deserved a second chance. Applied pictured stripped twice (30 mins and 1 hr) scrapped w/ plastic putty knife and steel wool, and it still comes up gummy. The knots and the edges feel like they are extra coated with whatever is sealing this table.

Should i be doing something differently?

i still believe this is a quality piece of furniture. Only 6 screws and 4 shims put it back together but questioning if its a project i want to tackle.

Grabbed this shelf for $10 because it had an interesting shape. It was in really rough shape covered in gunk. I gave it a good clean and started to sand. No matter how much I sanded some parts still had stain that wouldn’t budge. I got worried I was sanding too much. I’m also curious what type of wood it might be. It’s feather light but chips easily. I was hoping to restain, but with all the gouges now I’m thinking my best bet is to fill the holes and paint. If it’s even worth the effort.

I bought this for my beautiful wife for our first anniversary coming up. The mirror is missing because I had to walk it down a couple of blocks on a dolly that the thrift store loaned me to bring it home. I love that it has this wonderful heart shaped frame that I could not walk away from it. I have tried to find more information about it and I am at my wits end.

Everything says it's from the early 1900s. We are in Arlington Heights, in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. Bought it from a wonderful local resale non-profit shop that often gets lots of nice stuff like this and sells it locally so I could see it being in a local home from the time it was bought to now as it's an upper middle class area and has been since the early 1900s

I love old catalogs and would Absolutely Love to find out where this is from, if it is from a Sears or Montgomery Ward? Is it local? I love to find out these mysteries and spend a lot of time helping people peg down bicycles and art for others, and kind of hope some of you fine folk could help me with this one. It is so special, and it screamed to me enough I had to get it and carry it home by hand.

My knowledge is that of a beginner. I’d even say pre-beginner lol.

I found this piece and I’d love to lighten it so that it’s not so warm. I know the wood has warm tones, which is fine, but it feels super yellow. I’ve looked online and feel I’m at a loss. I’ve seen stuff about like waxing but that’s not the look I’m going for. I don’t necessarily want it to look distressed, just not so yellow and bright. I always see restoration videos and I’d love to learn more.

I started sanding it and didn’t really feel like I got to the real color? I was worried about sanding too much because of the veneer. Then my mom gave me some polish so now it kind of just looks like how it did when I first got it, but cleaner lol.

I’ve included some example and I don’t even know if it’s achievable. I resorted to asking chat which just is the worst and idk if the recommendations even make sense. Using Bona NordicSeal was a recommendation.

I’d appreciate any insights, advice, etc! :)

i’ve got this old dresser that i was either going to paint or sand to a better wood finish to get rid of all the stains.
i have no idea what i’m doing, ive never sanded before in my life nor done woodworking.
anyway, bought a sander, started with 80 grit and moved to 125 grit.
have i just not spent enough time to get an even surface? do i need to sand more, or have i sanded too much? why is it blotchy? is there a stain or varnish that will even out the patches?
when i was sanding, i could feel the surface was slightly uneven (it’s an old dresser so maybe just some natural bowing and bending). i admittedly did go on an angle to get rid of some scratches and stains that weren’t coming out, and i know i shouldn’t have done this..

any help would be greatly appreciated!! thank you

I picked up this coffee table as my first project to work on. There is no stamp anywhere on the table so I’m assuming it’s not real wood. I want to paint the legs but leave the top with a dark wood look. Would I strip the top part then sand the whole table, prime and paint the legs? Also the top has some sort of design, will sanding remove the design?

Any useful help is greatly appreciated.