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276375 John M. Johnston <jmjhnstn@m...> 2022‑10‑05 Cleaning old oak
Gentles,
I need to clean (NOT refinish) a 1920s oak barrister's bookcase. It’s been
indoors all its life and is just dark and dingy. Suggestions for cleaning??
Thank you.


John M. Johnston

“P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been miscarried;
therefore I beg you to write and let me know.” - Sir Boyle Roche, M.P.
276376 gtgrouch@r... 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
I used to use Gojo in the blue container. Haven't done it for years
though, and I'm not sure if they changed the formulation. 

If the finish is shellac, there is always wiping it with alcohol. 

Sounds like fun, Gary Katsanis
Albion New York, USA

	-----------------------------------------From: "John M. Johnston" 
To: "Old Tools"
Cc: 
Sent: Wednesday October 5 2022 1:41:41PM
Subject: [oldtools] Cleaning old oak

 Gentles,
 I need to clean (NOT refinish) a 1920s oak barrister's bookcase.
It’s been indoors all its life and is just dark and dingy.
Suggestions for cleaning?? Thank you.

 John M. Johnston

 “P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been
miscarried; therefore I beg you to write and let me know.” - Sir
Boyle Roche, M.P.

 



Links:
------
[1] https://groups.io/g/oldtools/unsub
276378 Kevin Foley <kevin.foley.135@g...> 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
John,

It’s not made to be a cleaner but Howard’s Feed - n - Wax has orange oil and (I
think) some VOCs. I find that a rub down of  the surface with a cloth fairly wet
with the stuff will release considerable dirt.  Like most things test on a small
piece but I haven't found it to harm finishes.  It’s at HD.

Barrister’s Bookcases.  The most loved and reviled furniture in my office
building.  I’m on the pro side.  I’ve got three stacks in my office.

Kevin
276379 Kirk Eppler 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
I use Murphy's oil soap for cleaning anything considered fine furniture.
If that doesn't do it, and it still looks dingy, I might step up to Paint
Thinner, Simple Green (don';t let it stand too long at first),  or Krud
Kutter, depending on how gross it is.  Krud Kutter worked fine on a tool
box with all kinds of foulness on top of it, not sure I'd try it on
something nice as my first attempt.

See before and after here
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tool-Chest-Two-Drawer/i-89nCbPw

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tool-Chest-Two-Drawer/i-JmsFjG9

Kirk in Half Moon Bay, Ca

On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 10:41 AM John M. Johnston 
wrote:

> Gentles,
> I need to clean (NOT refinish) a 1920s oak barrister's bookcase. It’s been
> indoors all its life and is just dark and dingy. Suggestions for
> cleaning??  Thank you.
>
>


-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA 
276380 Claudio DeLorenzi <claudio@d...> 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
The museum waxes (like Renaissance Wax) are gentle cleaners and reversible
protective layers at the same time.  Even “Furniture Conservator’s Wax”
works to clean general indoor grime (mature adult indoor grime, not frat
house)
Cheers from Waterloo
Claudio

On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 2:24 PM Kirk Eppler via groups.io  wrote:
276381 scottg <scottg@s...> 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
Well everybody already mentioned my tricks.
  Waterless hand cleaner (with no grit in it) or Murphys to start.
Then alcohol. Then paint thinner. Then steel wool with paint thinner.
Depending on if its working. hahahah

If you have to "cut" it a little to get the look you want, and its flat, 
it can be polished back out. Pumice and water followed by rottenstone 
and oil.
  Good wax last of course.

   There is only so far I am willing to go before the 
shellac/varnish/lacquer brush gets loose.
    yours scott


-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
276382 Richard Wilson <yorkshireman@y...> 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
Lots of good notions already.  Here’s my two penn’orth.

First 
All dirt is not equal.
Second
All substrate is not equal.  

So you need to do some careful observation of what you’re dealing with.  

Is the existing finish sound? - are there cracks?  will finish flake off if you
apply pressure?

What is the finish? - shellac?  oil/wax? polyurethane? 

What dirt is there?  is it ingrained, or surface.  Has the original colour
darkened?  What colour do you want it to be?  Oak is open grained, and almost
impossible to bring back to original light colour without leaving the pores
black.

On a dirty item such as I imagine this to be, I would start with old fashioned
soap and water.  Not exactly wet, but a damp cloth to remove the dust and dirt,
immediately followed by a dry cloth to ensure it dries at once.  You may repeat,
at a suitable interval.  and clean the interior if necessary.

Now go back to your findings on the finish.  It is possible to bring back old
shellac finishes, up to a point, but it takes time, and old shellac can be very
hard, needing long times to soften and allow the surface to be controlled.

If you are fortunate to have an old oil finish, then move on from water to
alcohol, or something like Liberon cleaner - based on all manner of probably
hazardous stuff, it cleans off old wax and dirt, and leaves a surface ready for
refinishing.  - just looked it up, and they seem to call it 'Liberon Wax and
Polish Remover’ nowadays.  I like it because it is so simple, and doesn’t damage
old finishes, if they’re sound.

Another simple re-finish is to pad on a few layers of shellac.  again, it needs
a sound base, and a cracked finish is tricky to bring back, but it delivers a
deep rich finish which can take a wax surface to adjust the sheen.

Oh yes - find an unseen corner first and try out whatever you are planning to
do where you can afford to make a wrong decision.


Let us know how you get on..


Richard Wilson
Yorkshireman Galoot




> On 5 Oct 2022, at 17:09, John M. Johnston  wrote:
> 
> Gentles,
> I need to clean (NOT refinish) a 1920s oak barrister's bookcase. It’s been
indoors all its life and is just dark and dingy. Suggestions for cleaning??
Thank you.
> 
> 
> John M. Johnston
> 
> “P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been miscarried;
therefore I beg you to write and let me know.” - Sir Boyle Roche, M.P.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 



-- 
Yorkshireman Galoot
in the most northerly county, farther north even than Yorkshire
IT #300
276383 Don Schwartz <dks@t...> 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
On 2022-10-05 1:41 p.m., scottg wrote:
> Well everybody already mentioned my tricks.
>  Waterless hand cleaner (with no grit in it) or Murphys to start.
> Then alcohol. Then paint thinner. Then steel wool with paint thinner.
> Depending on if its working. hahahah
>
> If you have to "cut" it a little to get the look you want, and its 
> flat, it can be polished back out. Pumice and water followed by 
> rottenstone and oil.
>  Good wax last of course.
>
>   There is only so far I am willing to go before the 
> shellac/varnish/lacquer brush gets loose.
>    yours scott
>
>
Hmmm. I'm reluctant to be disagreeing with Scott, but I wouldn't be 
jumping to alcohol so quick, in case it's a shellac finish. After 
Murphy's and lukewarm water, I'd move to varsol or similar petroleum 
product. Paint thinner or turps if you have it. Start with a soft cloth. 
For heavier grime, switch to a finer grade of burlap. Then steel wool as 
needed. If all that fails, try some alcohol in a spot where it won't be 
too obvious if it dissolves your finish.

Apparently if you're expert with a card scraper, you can remove a lot of 
grime, without a hook on the edge. I'm not that confident of my scraping 
skill.

FWIW

Don


-- 

Chuck the king - DS

It's a Humpty Dumpty world - Ry Cooder
276384 Phil E. <pedgerton66@g...> 2022‑10‑05 Re: Cleaning old oak
I'd refer folks to Tom Johnston on You-tube. He lives in Maine but used to
have a big repair and refinishing shop in New York. He is a good teacher
for all the old furniture rehab stuff.

Phil E.
276385 Mark van Roojen <mvr1@e...> 2022‑10‑06 Re: Cleaning old oak
> 
> 
> *Re: Cleaning old oak*
> From: Claudio DeLorenzi (
> claudio@d...?subject=Re:%20Cleaning%20old%20oak )
> Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2022 14:11:28 CDT
> 
> The museum waxes (like Renaissance Wax) are gentle cleaners and reversible
> 
> protective layers at the same time. Even �Furniture Conservator�s Wax�
> works to clean general indoor grime (mature adult indoor grime, not frat
> house)
> Cheers from Waterloo
> Claudio

Along similar lines I was going to suggest starting with a tack cloth just to
take off surface dust and grit and then seeing what I had and working from
there.

FWIW
- Mark

Mark van Roojen
Department of Philosophy
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Pound Hall 315D
Lincoln, NE 68588-0321
(402) 472-2425 (office will take messages)

Home:
POB 83836
Lincoln, NE 68501-3836
(402) 438-3724  (h)
Webpage: www.mvr1.com

( http://www.mvr1.com/ )
276406 Darrell <larchmont479@g...> 2022‑10‑07 Re: Cleaning old oak
> On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 10:41 AM John M. Johnston 
> wrote:
>
> > Gentles,
> > I need to clean (NOT refinish) a 1920s oak barrister's bookcase. It’s been
> > indoors all its life and is just dark and dingy. Suggestions for
> > cleaning??  Thank you.

Those bookcases are old enough, so they were probably sitting in a
room where people smoked.
All. The. Time.
The suggestion of Murphy's Oil Soap is a good one.


-- 
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User
276407 Joe Sullivan <joe@j...> 2022‑10‑07 Re: Cleaning old oak
SNIP
Hmmm. I'm reluctant to be disagreeing with Scott, but I wouldn't be jumping to
alcohol so quick, in case it's a shellac finish. After Murphy's and lukewarm
water, I'd move to varsol or similar petroleum product. Paint thinner or turps
if you have it. Start with a soft cloth.

END Snip

Yes, I have five of them full of books and ALL have shellac finishes.

J
276411 cowtown_eric <ecoyle@t...> 2022‑10‑09 Re: Cleaning old oak
I would like to see pictures before I give my two bits of suggestion.
Eric
276414 gary allan may 2022‑10‑10 Re: Cleaning old oak
Saddle soap. Or mild dish-soap and water. Wipe with a towel if it gets actually
wet. Bob's yer uncle.
 John M. Johnston  wrote:
 
 
 Gentles,
I need to clean (NOT refinish) a 1920s oak barrister's bookcase. It’s been
indoors all its life and is just dark and dingy. Suggestions for cleaning??
Thank you.


John M. Johnston

“P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been miscarried;
therefore I beg you to write and let me know.” - Sir Boyle Roche, M.P.

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