Old Silky Oak furniture with shoe polish staining

[Diane]

We have inherited a dining table and sideboard made from Silky Oak that have been stained dark brown with shoe polish (ie. all over on purpose). These are about 100 years old and were made by our family from trees on their property on the Far Nth Coast of NSW. They are well made and worth keeping. My mother-in-law explained that the furniture has been stained with dark brown shoe polish over the years to make it look like English oak.

We would like to remove the shoe polish, if possible, to see the natural silky oak timber. Are there any ideas about removing the polish and finishing them? Is it something that we could do ourselves, or is it a professional job? We don't have any experience in wood finishing but we would like to have a go.

[artme]

Welcome to the best font of knowledge in the cyber universe Diane. Here you will find differing measures of ratbagerry, wit, wisdom, opinions and attempts at helpfulness. Should you wish to continue then be it at your own peril.
With regard to your problem the first thought that comes to mind is "sacrilege"!!!, but that is of no help whatsoever.
I suspect the polish may well have penetrated some way into the timber and, because of the nature of the polish sanding will not be an option. I woul also avoid the use of metho and strippers for the moment.
To mee the best way to get rid of this damnable horror is to scrape the whole thing..
Try this in a not so obvious place.

[journeyman Mick]

Shoe polish is wax based AFAIK. I'd be inclined to try some Prepsol or a similar oil and wax remover available from most automotive spray painting suppliers. Obviously if the wax is on quite thick and can be lifted off with a fingernail scrapiong off the excess with a stiff plastic spatula or similar would be a good start.

Mick

[Diane]

Thanks for the quick feedback. We agree that it sacrilege- they are good solid pieces of furniture but they look tacky as the staining/polish is uneven and we don't like the dark brown/black colour. The shoe polish is absorbed well into the wood. We can see the grain of the silky oak where it has been worn thorough. We don't want to continue using shoe polish and we would really like to see the natural silky oak wood.

We will do some tests in a hidden area to see what will work.

Any other ideas out there?

[echnidna]

lacquer thinners might remove the bulk of it

[petersemple]

This would not be for the faint hearted. I once watched my Boss (a cabinetmaker in his 70's who had been restoring furniture all his life) set fire to a small table top that had been impregnated with finish. He said it was the quickest way to get rid of the stuff. Must admit I wouldn't ever do it. I'd be too scared of unintended consequences.

me

[artme]

My original opinion on how to remove this material still stands. I would not use any substance likely to push the polish deeper into the grain.
Silky Oak is fairly porous and mechanical means of removal, IMHO, is the only way to tackle this problem successfully.
I speak from some experience. Some years ago I dismantled, stripped and refurbished some cairs that had some disasterous dark "stuff" on them.
My first attempt to remove this rubbish involved stripper, metho and lots of elbow grease. Some success but mostly the result was to drive the colour of the "stuff" into the timber.
I successfully finished the whole job in short order by scraping the offending garbage off, scraping the exposed timber and then sanding.

[BernieP]

G'Day Diane

Have a look at http://www.goclean.com/shoepolish.htm

Cheers
Bernie

[astrid]

Try humble turps and fine (0000 grade) steel wool first.

Astrid

[Diane]

Thanks for all of the ideas. This is an amazing forum. We will try a few of the ideas and get back to you.

[artme]

Wot's happening???

[Diane]

We had a go at using turps and fine steel wool today. This seemed to work reasonably OK on the legs with the majority of the polish coming off. There is some polish left in the grains of the wood, which will not come off using this method. It was harder to remove the polish from the top of the table-I guess there has been much more polish and elbow grease gone into the top. This method is not going to work for the top.

I think we will give it all a quick go over with the turps and then we'll have to use some mechanical means. We have an orbital sander1/3 sheet and a belt sander. There was mention of using a scraper. What do you suggest we use?

[echnidna]

unless you are expereieced sufficiently not to leave ridges with the belt sander, don't use it on the top. Stick with the orbital.

Though a proper (furniture type) hand held scraper would be my first choice

[artme]

Agree with Echidna, even if he is a confused wombat.
Using a sander will also cause polish to melt and you will have a gluggy mess.
Get a cabinet scraper and use it gently, until you figure out how well you can use it.