We receive many calls form
our clients for advice to care for there antiques. Scroll below to see the most
popular recommendations. If you have a question, please contact me, Ill answer
your question and maybe post it on my web site. Thank You.
Mark DeVito
Water Marks & Rings – Water damage to your finish will appear in one of
two ways. You will see either a cloudy white area or a darker area. If the area
has turned darker, that the water or moisture has penetrated the finish and has
touched the wood. The only way to remove that darker mark is to strip off the
existing finish and treat the darker mark with axcolic acid to remove the mark
and then vinegar to neutralize the mark. If the water damaged area has turned
cloudy and white, the moisture has been trapped in the finish. The moisture can
be removed by rubbing the area with alcohol. You can use denatured alcohol,
rubbing alcohol or an industrial alcohol you buy at a hardware store. Before
tiring to remove the mark, make sure the alcohol does not melt or strip your
finish, so rub the alcohol on the side or back of the piece where you will not
see it and see if the finish is not harmed. Using a white cotton cloth, dampen
the cloth with the alcohol. Rub the water mark side to side going in the
direction of the grain. If the water mark disappears you may be left with a
little hazy area whish is just some traces of wax or oil. Rub down and dry off
the piece with lemon oil. You can buy lemon oil in the hardware or grocery
store. We also sell lemon oil at Raphael’s Furniture that we can mail to you.
If the water mark does not disappear, than try to heat the area with a hair
drier. If that does not work than the piece would have to be stripped and
refinished.
Wax Build Up – Does your table top feel sticky or is there an irregular sheen to
the top. There may be a build up of wax on the top. If you take your fingers
with a little pressure and draw circles on the top and you see the traces of
the circles, than you may have a wax build up. This can be removed using a mild
solvent like Mineral Spirits or Naptha. Using a clean cotton cloth, dampen the
cloth with the mineral spirits or Naptha and rub the top going side to side
with the grain. Turn the rag over when it starts to get dirty so that you don’t
spread the wax over the top. Repeat the procedure until the rag is clean. Test
your top when it is dried to make sure you don’t see the traces of wax anymore.
Once the wax is removed, you can either wax it again or rub the top down with
lemon oil. This will bring back a clear sheen. If your existing finish is worn,
the sheen may look duller in the worn areas.
Lemon Oil or Wax – We are often asked “should we use lemon oil on or
furniture or wax to take care of it”. Well both are alright to use. If you use
a wax, than I would recommend that you wax the furniture once or twice a year.
You have to watch the amount of wax to make sure it does not build up. Too much
wax will eventually get gummy, dirty or sticky. If that happens, you must
remove the wax and start waxing it again. (See instructions on how to remove a
wax build up). If you lemon oil your furniture, we recommend that you lemon oil
your furniture 2 to 4 times a year. You can never over oil your furniture
because most of what you put on dries off unless your existing finish is worn
and the wood is showing. Do not lemon oil your furniture if the wood is worn an
exposed. This may cause problems when you go to refinish the piece.
Wood Worn & Wood Boring Bugs – Are you finding small piles of dust under or in
your furniture. It could be that there is activity by one of the wood boring
creatures. Newer piece are more likely to have the bugs compared to the antique
pieces. If you were able to see a cross section of a of wood from an early 18
to 19 century piece of furniture, you will notice many tiny tube like tunnels
boring through the wood in all directions. Looks a like old bone marrow. The
wood boring bugs survive on the moisture that is in the wood, they eat it and
move on. There waist products are left behind. When the wood is older and
drier, there is no longer any moisture and the bugs are not able to survive off
it and die. You may still notice dust piles on the floor and think there alive.
It doesn’t take much to pop out the dust. Some one walking across the floor, a
draft through the home. When the front door opens, a draft of air is pulled
through the home. We have taken furniture with a 100 pound air pressure to blow
the dust off and when you blow the dust off it comes out in many directions
because the bug tubes run in all directions. After we use the high pressure we
sat the piece down and a few weeks later noticed the dust. Seems because there
are so many holes in so many directions that a treasure of dust is trapped
inside.
There is a way to prevent the dust from
coming out and if you still are not sure that the bugs are dead there is a
procedure for that as well.
First of all to prevent the dust from
coming out first dist off your furniture if question and if you have an air
compressor careful blow air on and around the piece in ever area. Be careful
not to blow off any veneer or delicate pieces. Then using past wax, wax your
furniture and use pressure everywhere you notice worm holes to clog and close
them up. If it is a chest of drawers, you’ll have to do all the drawer cases
around the out side and bottoms. This should prevent the dust from falling.
If your afraid that the wood worms are alive
and you want to kill them the winter is the best time to do it. In the past you
could have your furniture treated with a gas that would kill them. The gas has
been banned and no longer available to the commercial market. We experimented
and found a more effective way to kill them. Using temperature. 24 Hours in
freezing temperature will permeate better and kill anything living in there.
Take your furniture and wrap them in moving blankets to protect the finish.
Leaf the furniture in an unheated garage or back porch, anywhere where it will
be protected from the elements. Remove the blankets after 24 hours and you’re
done.
![]() Gettysberg at sun set. |