Formal Dining Table Finish

[Griffin_NC]

I hope this is not to off topic, but I'm having a issue with a formal dining table. I've been lurking around the boards for a bit and reading a ton of advice out here since I just started doing small amounts of woodworking.

I have a beautiful formal dining table that I got used about a year ago. I can't seem to get a good shine out of the finish that is on it. I've tried several different polishes and it always returns to a very dull haze over the table? I have cleaned it with Murphy's Wood Soap to remove grease and anything the former owner might have used on it. Then I've tried several polishes and lemon oil. They never seems to work for long and the oil seems to never soak in leaving it sit on the surface till it eventually evaporates. The table is about 5 years old and was rarely used to actually eat on.

Any ideas on what would be best to return a shine to it? Short of refinishing, I'm sure my wife would stop me long before I got near the table with sandpaper... :gar-Bi

 

[CDPeters]

Dennis -

Have you tried Johnson's paste wax?

That would be the easy fix if it works. If it doesn't, and the finish is in otherwise good shape, then it might require buffing with an RO buffer and buffing compound, then followed up with wax.

You might check this thread... maybe Tim will chime in with some advice.

Good luck...
C.

 

[bluedawg76]

If the top is sealed with a film finish -varnish, shellac, lacquer, etc. oil shouldn't seep in at all. Oil will only penetrate bare, unsealed wood.

You may want to determine what the finish actually is. That may give you some hints as to what next. I'm sure others can chime in here on the best routes for that, but in essence if it dissolves in alcohol, it's shellac, lacquer thinner, it's lacquer, if nothing at all, it's likely a varnish. Obviously this would be performed on a very small and absolutely inconspicuous place that SWMBO will never see.

how does the finish look after you cleaned it (and let it dry of course)? Cloudy/hazy or just flat?

Johnson's paste wax would certainly be an easy fix for any of the finishes, so that may be your path of least resistance.

Sam

 

[mckenziedrums]

There's at least one woodworker here that will vouch for my crazy method

We bought a table at a furniture store that was going out of business (for the 3rd time that year I think? lol) and it had some light scratches and kind of a semi-gloss finish. Long story short I wasn't happy with the finish and wanted to shine it up a bit... So I grabbed my hand held rotary buffer, put it at about 1500 rpms and grabbed my polishing compounds that I use on my cars or my drums I build and went to work. After slinging compound all over the dining room (use sparingly!) I ended up with a nice shiny and smooth top. From there I just wipe it with pledge or whatever from time to time to knock the dust off.

Quick note... a good rotary buffer takes some time to get used to. Go too aggressive and you'll burn through the finish. It does, however, work like a charm.

 

[Griffin_NC]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to try and do a good cleaning with some Murphy's Wood Soap to take off any left over Lemon Oil... I hope. Then I'm going to try some Paste Wax. I don't have a power buffer so it will be a nice long hand wax job I suppose.

 

[Howard Acheson]

Soap will not remove oil or wax well at all. It's not a solvent for either. To remove oils and waxes the proper solvent is mineral spirits. Wipe it on and then wipe it off using lots of paper towels. Only make one stroke with the towel and then change faces otherwise all you will be doing is smearing the oil/wax around. Repeat the process a second time and you will have a clean surface.

Wax will never create a shine that is more glossy than the surface underneath.