Refinish old cedar chest

[maxwell_smart007]

How do you find out what finish is on an old cedar chest? I have a few patches that are down to bare wood, and I wanted to get it 'even', so I was debating:

Sanding down to bare wood, and then finishing with BLO, shellac, and poly? Or lacquer?

or just BLO and wax

What finish would they likely have used in the early-mid 1900s? Poly? Shellac? Lacquer?

 

[GaryMGg]

Rub an inconspicuous place on the chest with shellac. If it blends in, it's shellac.

 

[egnald]

In the 1940's and 50's ish, varnish was often used on furniture. A common varnish was made with some kind of natural resin or some form of an early acrylic polymer mixed with a drying oil, usually linseed. The downside was that it was slow drying which made it inefficient for mass produced furniture.

There was also a faster drying (and more versatile) varnish made by adding turpentine to the mix as the solvent would evaporate after it was applied which speeds up the drying process. I think this was the most frequently used varnish for commercial products.

Spirit varnish was usually more available and used by the general public. It is essentially a resin, often shellac, dissolved in alcohol.

You can sometimes tell if a finish is shellac vs oil based by applying denatured alcohol to a non-conspicuous spot. Shellac should soften and dissolve while oil based varnishes will be less affected.

From about 1970 to the mid 80's a fellow named Homer Formby who was a professional furniture restorer from Florida made and sold a furniture refinishing product. Here is a video clip of one of his advertisements: Formby's Refinisher. Before he went commercial with his product line, he gave out the recipe for his furniture refinisher free during his tv programs.

I posted about it in a similar thread called "Formbys finishes?" back in 2022. It had a best guess at his formula. The cool thing was that it dissolved about any kind of finish and could also be used to "smear" the dissolved finish into areas where the patina had been lost, helping to blend the color back into the raw wood.

Good Luck with your project. We are all anxious to hear and see how it turns out.

Dave

 

[d_bondi]

In the 1940's and 50's ish, varnish was often used on furniture. A common varnish was made with some kind of natural resin or some form of an early acrylic polymer mixed with a drying oil, usually linseed. The downside was that it was slow drying which made it inefficient for mass produced furniture.

There was also a faster drying (and more versatile) varnish made by adding turpentine to the mix as the solvent would evaporate after it was applied which speeds up the drying process. I think this was the most frequently used varnish for commercial products.

Spirit varnish was usually more available and used by the general public. It is essentially a resin, often shellac, dissolved in alcohol.

You can sometimes tell if a finish is shellac vs oil based by applying denatured alcohol to a non-conspicuous spot. Shellac should soften and dissolve while oil based varnishes will be less affected.

From about 1970 to the mid 80's a fellow named Homer Formby who was a professional furniture restorer from Florida made and sold a furniture refinishing product. Here is a video clip of one of his advertisements: Formby's Refinisher. Before he went commercial with his product line, he gave out the recipe for his furniture refinisher free during his tv programs.

I posted about it in a similar thread called "Formbys finishes?" back in 2022. It had a best guess at his formula. The cool thing was that it dissolved about any kind of finish and could also be used to "smear" the dissolved finish into areas where the patina had been lost, helping to blend the color back into the raw wood.

Good Luck with your project. We are all anxious to hear and see how it turns out.

Dave

My late Grandmother used to do a lot of antique refinishing. Formby's was one of her favorites!

 

[monophoto]

Over the last year or so I've become addicted to watching YouTube videos produced by Tom Johnson. Johnson is a professional furniture restorer located outside Portland, ME. The man works miracles in restoring (and if necessary) refinishing broken down antiques, and his techniques are a lot of fun to watch.

I think the approach Tom would take would be to first try to determine what the original finish was. The main candidates are lacquer, varnish or shellac. As Dave said, you can try wiping a hidden corner with DNA - if that softens the finish, then its shellac. If it survives DNA, try lacquer thinner. If it survives that, its varnish

Tom generally avoids stripping the existing finish from furniture, and prefers instead to restore the original finish. His main go-to products are Waterlox Tung Oil Varnish, and a final treatment with Howard's Feed'NWax.

I've done a little furniture refinishing in the way-distant past. My approach would be to remove the existing finish using some kind of stripper. Strippers are pretty nasty so that process needs to be done outdoors in warm weather. Then, sand lightly to smooth out the surface, and apply multiple coats of a finish, and followed by rubbing the item down with either 4/0 steel wood or gray scotchbright pad and a wax polish. In those days, I generally used polyurethane. However, I've come to appreciate Tung Oil finishes and today I would probably use either Waterlox or the shop-made Tung Oil varnish I use on turned items.

 

[GaryMGg]

I think Dave hit it.
Several other sites, including a discussion on FWW said "I remember part of what Homer Formby used to say would work for his refinisher. It was equal parts of Acetone, Benzene, Xylene (or maybe Xylol) and Tolulene."

 

[carlmorrell]

I just got back, my childhood dresser. Heavy, dark (shellac), dovetailed drawers. It's really beat up and in need of refinishing. Waiting for the garage shop to become warm. Meanwhile, I watched some youtubes and decided to try Stripwell QCS. Apparently it is not toxic at all and is the better than citrusstrip or kleenstrip which are at the local HomeDepot. Bottle just arrived a few days ago.

 

[GaryMGg]

Jasco semi-paste wood stripper looks like it might be a copy of the Formby refinishing product.
As I understand it, Formby's was bought by Minwax, a part of Sherwin-Williams, and then closed. The 'net says Formby's is no longer available, and it has been replaced by Minwax Antique Furniture Refinisher.
However, this morning, I had something needed stripping and found the Jasco on my finishing shelf.