Re: [A/S] Refinishing.... A different viewpoint.

[Ebert Steele <k5cad@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My wife was the proprietor for Galveston County's largest Antique
Store and restoration shop for about 30 years. Over the years she
employed a dozen or so repair people. I learned one true and
irrefutable law of finishing and refinishing: if you watch or ask
100 people how to do it you will get 100 different answers. I have
something different for you to consider. It is a workflow used by
many Master refinishers.

           1. Use 0000 steel wool and GoJo (white smooth kind 
              with no grit in it) and scrub the hell out of the old
finish.

           2. There are a number of products which include wax, 
              oil, and coloring. My favorite is a product called 
              Furniture Feeder. Rub it liberally, again with steel
wool.

           3. After all of that dries, use a paste wax with coloring
in it and buff it.
              You could even use shoe polish to get a dark coloring
if that's what you need. 

Now you have an elegant finish that is worthy of the Grand Old Lady
1957 Caravanner. Don't be deceived by the simplicity of it. The
thing that I have found over the years is that most of what is
refinished doesn't need to be or is over done. Unless you have had
sustained water damage, I doubt that it would be necessary to take
the old finish off.

If your mind is set on a "new factory finish" then you already have
a lot of good advice. 

Ebert Steele