Refinishing an old table

[vettechick99]

Hi all! New to the forum - so glad to see it exists! I thought I was in heaven with the magazine, so the community is icing on the cake!

I just purchased an antique solid oak table, stained a dark walnut. However, it's seen better days and either needs a fantastic cleaning or a complete refinish.

The antiques dealer said there was a shellac :confused: on the surface which is the reason lint is stuck to it (a wet cleaning did not remove the lint). So any idea the best way to tackle this? What products can I use to clean it and/or even out the stain? Or maybe I should just bite the bullet and refinish it completely?

Any tips on that?

Thanks for any and all advice!!!

P/S this table is not signed, so I don't worry about ruining some amazing antique. ;)

[Lisa S]

Before you completely refinish, check out some of the products that Watco makes for wood cleaning. They really do a marvelous job.

[greenoak]

its pretty hard to hurt oak..... paint thinnner with steel wool might take the sticky stuff off.you have to do that outside...
.. we usually strip oak...

ann of greenoak


www.greenoakantiques.com

[Lynzee]

Hi vettechick99:

I have stripped almost every piece of furniture in my house in the last year and used everything under the sun to do it because there were so many different finishes. Each project was a total nightmare! My suggestion would be to try everything else first and see if there might be another solution.

Good luck--and welcome to the forum!

:)
Lynzee