Stripping Antique Furniture By Richard Nice

There are three degrees of stripping furniture.
1. A good clean to remove the dirt and wax built up over the years by using half a pint of white spirit and half a pint of vinegar with five tablespoons of linseed oil. Shake the mixture as you use it.
2. The removal of the finish from the wood, but leaving the mellowed wood intact, where the finish is marked, scratched, etc. This can be done best with methylated spirits and fine oooo wire wool which will work on 90% of antique furniture, the remaining 10% can be removed with paint stripper.

3.The mellowed wood is the top surface of the wood which has been faded by natural light, this faded look is 95% of the patina, the other 5% is the finish e.g. the aged French polish or aged wax polish.
N.B. It should be noted that all woods are affected by natural light to a greater or lesser extent, as a general rule all light woods darken and all dark woods lighten so they all end up nearly the same colour.
Woods which redden are :-cherry, yew, beech, kingwood, purpleheart, padouk,
Woods which yellow are :- African mahogany, sapele, walnut, agba, gaboon, maple, plane, sycamore, oak.
This mellowed wood should only be removed as a last resort as it is very difficult to make good or fake. But there are times where a repair has been carried out and the surface has been lost, such as when sanding down the new wood flush with the old. This faded look can be achieved by bleaching the wood with either a two pack bleach or a single stage bleach.