G'day folks...help with old english oak desk please.

[Lawry01]

Hi folks. Just found this forum, and hope to get active here. New to woodworking but want to develop some reasonable skills in bringing old/ antique furniture back to its former glory! Wrapped to read about the show in a couple of weeks too!

However, my immediate issue is this.... I just purchased a beautifully carved old English Oak (we think) desk with leather inlay. (will try to post picture soon) The chap I bough it from recently attampted to varnish it, and frankly did an absolutely terrible job. Its very rough, still sticky and thick in parts (week later) and not the right colour (red jarrah, whilst the timber is a darker english Oak) Also, he did some sanding against the grain , leaving deep scratch marks . The leather inlay is in poor condition (the desk has 3 inlay sections..and the poor sanding is in the narrow strip between them..difficult area to sand, so he took the easy way out.. The desk is actually a beauitiful piece of furniture with wonderful carvings, but now looks like some cheap Indonesian mass produced and poorly finished item. I would appreciate ideas on how to return this piece to its former glory. My skills are 'basic' but open to leaning.We dont know its age, but minimum early 1900's, possibly late 1800's. It was brought to Australia from the UK by its rather eldely previous owner. Thanks for ideas in advance ! Lawry

[Woodwould]

If the varnish is still soft, I would remove it ASAP with 00 steel wool, mineral turps and piles of clean rags.

If you post pictures of it after that, one of us should be able to give further advice.

[Lawry01]

I wouldnt call it soft, but you can certainly still smell it...I assume its probably safe to consider it as soft! The guy I bought it from said he varinished it with Feast Watson about a week ago, and after 2/3 days was still tacky. Will have a go at the steel wool ..should I be rubbing hard, or just let the natural abrasion do its stuff?

[Lawry01]

Oh..further question....the intricate carvings..obviously I cant actually rub with the grain, so do I just work my way in and around the contours etc? Thanks.

Lawry

[Woodwould]

Scrub as hard as necessary, but stop short of removing colour or wood fibres! Try a stiff nail brush on the carved areas.

[Lawry01]

thanks...will get started this morning, and report back! I must admit, its such a beautiful piece, that I'm a little apprehensive, although I know once I get started it will be fine! . Lawry

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum.

If only the other fellow joined the forum before.... At least you have a project to complete.

[Lawry01]

Folks..progres report...have used 00 steel wool and metho and removed most of the varnish, now going to tacvkle the tricky carvings. I notice that on many surfaces after scrubbing and wiping, I'm left with a lot of whiteish residue, not sure what this is..have I not gone deep enough, or is this a different varning/ stain / surface? Once I work out how, I'll post the pics I've taken...work on that today!

Looking forward to hearing views on next steps!
Lawry
ps. it is starting to look good to refinish, but theagainst the grain scratch marks are quite evident!

[Christos]

This could help in posting pictures.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f36/po...ur-post-78760/

[Lawry01]

OK..photos attempt no.1! A few photos of the desk before stripping. Note, whilst it might look good , it was actuallyt quite revolting in real life , specially top, front carvings and sides. The back looked great!!! You'll see in one of the shots where he sanded deeply against the grain in between the leather inlay. I'll post 'stage 1' after shots once this goes through.

[Lawry01]

Thanks christos..photos worked. Attached are some shots of where I'm up to now after using the steel wool & metho. Still dont know what the white stuff is - tried to wipe it off with metho, but it keeps showing up. Please tell me what you guys reckon, and what next! Cheers, Lawry

[Woodwould]

The white residue is the remaining varnish. Work it into a slurry again and keep wiping it off with clean cloths. Until you gain more experience, letting it dry from time to time will better indicate those areas that require further cleaning.

After a while, the gunge will cease to appear and the next stage can proceed.

[dr4g0nfly]

Well I have not got much grain to go on but the little I can make out around the stripped door says it's certainly oak.

The carving on the door is also of a stylised Tudor rose but not right enough to be of that era. Also the delecatness of the legs and stretchers don't quite fit with the carved acorns. I think therefore it's a reproduction although certainly of some age (the Victorians were great at reproducing earlier furnature.)

It would be hard to recommend a stain to match, due to modern stains not being made the same but you might try starting with Jacobean Oak thinned slightly (on a spare bit of oak or in a hidden area).

[Horsecroft88]

Ok, I am going to appear to be a little severe here, and would suggest that if you aren't able to get all the whitish residue off as you have been trying to do so, than perhaps you may have a number of other options.

Metho and coarse grade steel wool is fine for removing old shellac finishes (albeit it is slow) but normally to remove something with a poly base (which most Feast Watson products have), I would use paint stripper, for that will remove all the muck and residue clear off to get back to bare timber. You then can use products like oxalic acid or as I do metho, or even warm soapy water and steel wool to clean any residual nasties left behind.

Once you have the surface totally cleaned back to the timber, if it is english oak, and unless you want a really dark surface, I personally wouldn't recommend using a stain with any finish you wish to use.

A piece like this should merely be sanded (following the grain using coarse (120) if needed or at least a medium grade paper (240) to very fine (400) and thereafter re-finished with shellac, ultra fine steel wool (0000 grade) and bees wax polished. Basically, the piece needs to be French Polished, to bring out the colour and nature of the oak grain. If you are concerned re the risk of damage to a normal shellac finish due to heat or spillage of liquids you could always use hard shellac, which is available from Ubeaut here off this forum.

I personally am not afraid of using the methods described above be it for antique cedar, pine or oak joinery or furniture and the results always come up superb.

[Lawry01]

Thanks Dragonfly. The carving on the door is actually the same as that on the legs..I'll try to post better pic later. It may well be a repro., but it would be great to somehow actually date the piece..I dont know how/ where to do this.
Re the stain..where do I get something like Jacobean Oak stain? Its not in the usual Bunnings range!!! (you can tell I'm new to this!)

Horsecroft...thanks for your views too...I'm considering your suggestion of sanding back to bare timber/ using stripper to get everything off etc. I actually wonder whether I'll get a better job by removing everything, and possibly sanding back to get rid of the severe scratch marks in between the leather.
I'm not overly fussed about a very dark finish...a little colour would be nice, but the oak/ grain looks good as I work it. What stripper would you suggest, and whats the best way to use it please?
So now..between Wouldwood and Horsecrofts approaches, I am a little confused on the best way to proceed. HELP! I must say, getting ALL the varnish off has been dificult, specially around the carvings, although I am still working oj it. Cheers, and thanks again for yur ideas/ advice in advance! lawry