Repairing finish on Parker furniture

[themage21]

Hi All,

So I was given a Parker extension table and chairs a few years ago now. Not being familiar with what that meant finish wise and being a bit young and stupid, it received the short end of some unfair treatment to the table top and chairs.

I'm going to hand this on, back to the family of the person who originally gave it to me and I am a bit embarassed about the state of the table (the chairs too, but that later). I've attached a photo for reference.

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Now based on my experience with the chairs, water is able to get the finish to move without too many troubles, so I'm thinking that this is a shellac finish. Baby vomit seems to do the trick too (in fact, it strips the finish off very quickly).

The thread here: http://www.woodworkforums.com/f9/water-heat-marks-table-top-64846 seems to have dealt with a similar situation, so I'll take it on the chin that this is a re-run, but I'm hoping with a difference.

The post above basically landed on the hairspray solution, which has me a little dodgy, seems to be luck more than anything else and then you're mixing finishes, which also gives me the jeebies.

The Benevolent Dictator (may they live forever) indicated that their polish reviver product may have a chance - without blaspheming, with white marks like this (they are visible from all angles), am I kidding myself?

I think it's clipped out of the photo, but there is a faint water mark on the bottom right of the photo. It's obviously a liquid issue as it has the bloom shape to it. Will the polish reviver be able to correct this as well?

Given that this is the first time I'd be trying to drive a shellac finish on an item I soon won't own, is it worth the risk? The new owner is looking to get repair quotes already, so it would mostly just be for the sake of some good will, the chair repairs are going to hurt.

With regards to the chairs, well, small children tend to give their dinner back at the same place where they got it, so there's a bit more damage here and there, some of which is definitely past the capabilities of a restoration compound (there's be almost complete removal of the finish in some parts). Also, the chair design wasn't the best when it came to supporting the load of the seat back on to the frame and 110kgs of me has resulted in many of them requiring the complete repair of the padded portion of the seat.

In those situations, I'm going to leave this to a dedicated restorer/finisher who can do the project in a timely fashion and not end up with an axe in their head from their wife.

Any advice is appreciated, and I'll try and return any follow-up questions as soon as I can.

[soundman]

If it is any sort of mass manufactured furniture product the finish will almost certainly be Nitro laquer ....... that would be by far the easiest and most effective productv to refinish with.
Yoiu should be able to get most of the existing finish off with a rag and a bowl of thinners.

cheers

[RoyG]

If you do a few Google searches, you'll find that the Parker Furniture factories seem to have used a variety of finishes, ranging from Shellac based finishes, thru Nitrocellulose Lacquers, to various so called "Oil" finishes used on the "Danish Style" furniture.

So, you need to do some testing to work out what sort finish you have on your table......

Start by assuming that it is Nitrocellulose Lacquer, and try as [Soundman] suggests, using a rag and some Nitrocellulose Thinners to see if the finish comes off. If you're nervous about doing that, try it on an inconspicuous area, maybe under the lip of the table, to see what happens. If the finish is Nitrocellulose Lacquer, then the finish will start coming off on your rag quite easily and quickly. (Work in a well ventilated are, and/or wear a suitable fume mask, or you'll get high on the thinner's fumes!)

If the thinners does not touch the finish, then do the above test again, but this time using Methylated Spirits. If Metho softens the finish, then it is a Shellac based finish. If the finish turns out to be Shellac based, come back to the finishing forum for detailed shellac finish restoration advice.

If the finish wasn't softened by either Methylated Spirits or Nitrocellulose Thinners, then it's possibly some sort of oil/varnish blend (sometimes called Danish Oil by the marketing people). If that is the case, I'm afraid I can't advise how you confirm what the finish is, or what finish repair process to use. Maybe one of the other forum members can advise in this regard.

Based on the damage that you've got on the table, I don't think that the finish is likely to be one of the modern finishes such as a catalysed lacquer, polyurethane, etc.

Once you've worked what sort of finish you have on the table, then come back to this forum with the details, and people will be able to provide details of specific restoration techniques suited to that specific finish type.

Hope that info helps,

RoyG

[Xanthorrhoeas]

I have also been told that the finish on the Parker furniture was nitrocellulose lacquer. However I have some friends who have owned theirs from new and it also is sensitive to heat and moisture like shellac. Maybe a paint expert can tell whether that would be the same for notro? Otherwise the finish may well be shellac.

If it is shellac it is readily repairable with more shellac.

[themage21]

Looks like I will need to find an out of the way spot for a test...