antique oak finish

[Colm]

Hi
A little over a year ago I bought an antique oak table, 6 chairs and a side board from a Shop in Spain. They gave me a tin of parafin-smelling finish/wax which I am meant to apply to cover up stains (steel wool, then apply wax).... or do a complete refinish every year.

The furniture is great... apart from the fact that the wax is so delicate & comes off if you rub hard with a cloth. The maintenance is a pain in the neck.

The wood is over 100 years old and is unfinished - apart from this "soft wax" finish. The table top is beginning to look a bit tatty, so I'm about to embark on the huge job of doing my first annual refinishing.

Before I do that.... I'd greatly appreciate any advice you might have on a permanent solution - i.e. some treatment I can apply that will be durable and last for years, as opposed to months.

any info very gratefully accepted (apart from discard the furniture)

regards,
colm

[rsser]

Big job colm; should keep you off the streets for a while if by tatty you mean you need to sand everything back to bare timber and start over.

As an alternative...

The wax sounds too soft for the job so go for a harder product, but first remove as much of the old stuff as you can. Get advice from your local supplier about a suitable alternative. Carnauba-based waxes are regarded as harder wearing than others.

[jur]

Hi Colm


You might try these guys http://www.howardproducts.com/default.asp

At the very least you will get a better smelling product; but there are also carnauba wax/beeswax combinations which sounds more suitable.

Waxes will still not be waterproof; you might carefully consider doing a danish oil finish, but it is absolutely essential that you do

1) lots of research on various finishes - you can never know too much;
2) experiment on some similar wood eg get hold of a several pieces of American oak and try out various options before you commit.

I would contact Neil ubeaut of this site and arrange to buy his book on finishing (he wrote the book on finishing ).

[ptc]

Colm
how about a pic of table seeing it was from Spain.
ptc