antique oak finish

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

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.

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 ;) ).

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