Cleaning antique furniture

[vicky whitworth]

Hello. How would you go about cleaning antique furniture that's been untouched for years and is covered in thick, sticky dust? Furniture is very frail. Don't want to spend a lot of money but a light dusting I don't think will do the trick. Beeswax? Thanks.

 

[Keith Bowman]

Wouldn't beeswax just make it stickier? I would be tempted to try some turpentine very carefully on a hidden area. (Or even turps substitute or white spirit.)
Edited to add: followed by wax again once it is unstickied of course.

 

[plasticpigeon]

You can buy proprietary furniture cleaner from liberon or Rustin's or some other wood finishing product manufacturer. It is a solvent based cleaner but doesn't seem to take off varnish or polish if used lightly. Otherwise a mix of turps and baby oil or something like that might work well.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I know the problem with sticky dust!! I have mainly Regency Rosewood furniture and after a couple of house moves have had to give a good clean to get the shine back. First I use a Pledge fluffy duster which is static and quickly attracts a lot of the dust. Then I thoroughly wring out a clean white stockinette cotton cloth in a tiny dash of fairy liquid dissolved in warm water to clean off the sticky dust. Then I immediately buff up with another clean dry white soft cloth. This generally removes the worst without removing the patina. If, after all that buffing, it needs more shine I generally use beeswax cream on the completely dry surface, leave it for a few minutes and buff again. It's hard work but works well . After that I keep the furniture well buffed with a dry duster as often as possible and a natural glow soon develops.

 

[LadyArowana]

In a related note, I keep old socks ( know what you're thinking, they get washed first, :lol: ) to use for dusting/ polishing. Always take the free airline ones too!

 

[xanthe]

For very sticky areas (ie under sticky plastic that has been covering shelves in old cupboards) Lakeland do a sticky label remover and it doesn't seem to do anything nasty to wood at all other than easily remove stickiness.

A dab of mayonnaise I'd brilliant for removing watermarks. Just rub softer with the grain and bingo.

I left my 6 year-old daughter helping on that one and went to get clean warm soapy water and when I got back she had used half a large jar and mayonnaised almost an entire C18th court cupboard. :shock: