Repairing And Restoring Furniture

Small damage to wooden furniture, such as little scratches and stains, can be repaired easily if you used the right materials. More serious damage, however, should be left for professionals to handle. When trying to repair small scratches or remove stains, use the products on a hidden surface first just to make sure they don't ruin the finish.

Repairing scratches

For scratches on dark wood or stain furniture, use some shoe polish of the same colour as the lightest shades of the finish. You can also use walnut to rub in the direction of the scratch. To repair scratches on cherry wood, fill them with some reddish shoe polish, cordovan or darkened iodine. You can use a very thin paint brush or a cotton swab. Scratches on lightwood furniture can be repaired by filling them with tan or natural shoe polish or with a mixture of half darkened iodine and half denatured alcohol.

Removing stains

There are a lot of products on the market for removing stains from wooden furniture. However, you should be very careful how you use them, because some of them might damage the finish. If you don't know what to choose, you'd better call a professional refurbisher.

Common stains, such as water marks, white marks and milk or alcohol stains are easy to handle yourself. For water marks, cover the surface you want to clean with a thick blotter and then press down with a warm iron. You can also rub it with lemon white toothpaste, oil or mayonnaise. White marks can be removed with a mixture of cigarette ashes and salad oil or lemon juice. You can remove milk or alcohol stains by rubbing them with ammonia. After you remove the stains, wipe dry and wax and polish the surface again.

Handling other small damage

Other small problems, such as cigarette burns, paint marks, heat marks, sticking paper, wax or gum can also be handled easily at home. After removing them you will have to wax or polish the surface again.

To remove cigarette burns, rub with some scratch-concealing polish and a mixture of linseed oil and rottenstone. For heat marks, use a cloth dipped in camphorated oil or mineral spirits or a dry steel wool soap pad or rub gently with extra-fine steel wool. To remove dry paint marks, pour some boiled linseed oil over the spot and when the paint is soft, remove it carefully with a putty knife or a cloth dipped in boiled linseed oil. Remove sticking paper by pouring some salad oil over it and the rub it with extra-fine steel wool. For wax or gum stains, hold an ice cube covered with a cloth against the spot and then remove it with your nail or plastic credit card. Rub the surface with extra-fine steel wool dampened with mineral spirits.

Proper care should keep you away from more serious problems which require a professional refurbisher. However, small accidents are bound to happen, especially if you have kids. There are a few ways to reduce damage to your furniture as much as you can, such as using coasters to protect it, blotting spills immediately and keeping things like alcohol or nail polish remover away from it. You should also lift the objects when you dust and not drag them along the surface of your furniture. If you need to move furniture pieces, lift them, don't drag them.

With good care, and by handling small damage yourself, you can offer your furniture a long lasting life and ensure your grandchildren will be able to enjoy it too.