Oak panelling clean up / renovation

[rjp996]

Hi,

Long-time reader, but my first post.

I have bought an Edwardian house that have a lot of Oak Panelling in the formal areas (Halls, Dinning rooms etc). The panelling is very dark (as you may be able to see in the pictures) especially in the Hall were there is a lot of use (as opposed to the dining room). Previous owners have layer a thick coat of varnish over all the wood, that has runs and is wrinkling.

Does anyone have any idea on how to clean up panelling? I have bought some varnish stripper and some wire wool, but am a little scared to make a start !!!!!.

I think the colour of the Oak has got much darker over the yrs due to dirt etc, and was hoping that cleaning of the Varnish and wire wooling would bring it up much lighter (hope this is not sacrilege). Additionally is there a grade of wire wool I should be looking to use ? and when it is all cleaned off what are you suppose to put on the wood (a wax of some description ?).

Hope someone can help me out, I think I am embarking on a massive 20yr project with this house.

thanks

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[Penners]

Using steel wire wool on oak is not a good idea. Small particles will remain embedded in the wood, and - since oak has a high content of tannic acid - will turn black and discolour the wood.

If you want to use a metal wool, make sure it's non-ferrous.

However, if I were to strip your panelling, I think I would try a poultice stripper like Klingstrip from these people. They have several different formulations for different types of paint, and you can give them a call to discuss which one is best for you. They'll also sell you a small test pot to try before you buy in bulk.

 

[middi]

As a matter of interest, is your "Edwardian" house suppose to have all those ceiling beams as part of the original build ?.

 

[piper]

For a house very close in period, and with some similar style features, and which has been beautifully restored (including oak panelling), take a trip to the Lake District sometime and look around Blackwell.
http://www.blackwell.org.uk gives some details of the contractors used, and the staff at the house can give you names of specialists used, as well as probably more details of techniques used.

 

[rjp996]

Ceiling beams - Yes they are part of the original building. The house was built by a well known local builder who built all their houses around this time in the style using massive amount of Oak all over.

Penner - thanks for the info on the wire wool, I will take a good look at trying some of those strippers.

The Blackwell house picture were very interesting, their woodwork is significantly lighter and just the effect I was looking to get (in the end), I think I have my winter mapped out for me....

 

[Toby Newell]

Hi Please see

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/article023.htm

Hope this helps. Alkaline poultice strippers will ruin your oak forever. Anyone who goes near oak with a caustic alkaline substance should be shot. (Reacts with tannin to produce chemical stains that penetrate deep into the wood)

You will need solvent based stripper like Nitromors, Paramose, Cyclone etc... (Methylene dichloride) lots of coarse wire wool (Trollul No5 or No6) etc. More detail in my piece. By now wood should have developed nice colouration. After stripping clean off with a soda wash and finish in shellac your oak should be a nice orange/honey/digestive biscuit colour.

If I can work out how to post pics, Ill post some before and after from an Edwardian house in Bedford.

Toby[/img]

 

[Toby Newell]

Hi

http://www.floorsanding-uk.com/customer%20page.html

if you click on that you should see what I am going on about. Sorry I cant work out how to post a pic on here!!! (and I built my own website!) if anyone knows please tell me how to do it!

BTW er you absolutely DO use wire wool to strip oak!!! practically impossible to do without it! (unless you sand it of course, not reccomended) sorry Penners mate. Must have stripped several dozen square metres at Houses of Parliament including several committee rooms and John Prescots cabinet room (not that he'd notice) all with Nitromors and wire wool, not one iron mold. The secret is penners, dont worry about the wire wool, worry about the water! dont leave windows open or you may be sorry when it rains! and of course hoover the panels and everywhere when you finish.

The only time you need to use non-ferrous on oak is when using a wire brush, copper brushes are gentler on the grain. (iron mold can be remnoved with oxalic acid anyway quite effectively)

Toby

 

[biffvernon]

On the wire wool you may both be right. If you use it on new oak you can get lots of little black spots forming but once the wood is fairly old and the tannins are stabilised, as in the Houses of Parliament, there is no problem.

 

[Toby Newell]

Yes biff, I didnt think of Green oak as I never would need to strip it! Properly seasoned oak is no problem even new work, I have stripped new sprayed doors from the factory with wire wool, no problems. The tannins are not active unless dissolved in water. Any moisture though and it can be bad news so yes do always hoover up carefully, I fit an upholstery attachement to my dust extractor and hoover all my work regularly. (My main polisher, Mark once left the window open to let the smell of stripper dissipate on an oak floor he had stripped, well it rained over the weekend. That was years ago. Never did it again!)

Toby

 

[Toby Newell]

This is an Edwardian oak interior in Bedford. Before stripping, possibly your oak is in a similar state? I couldnt see the high res pics.

And this is after stripping with Nitromors, hot soda wash, oxalic acid bleach (we used a Billy Burka, water heater!) then sealed in with shellac, no stain required some of the oak was really dark, shame I didnt take too many pics, your oak would probably come up a little like this.

Toby

 

[rjp996]

Toby – you are right, our oak looks similar in colour (not quite as bad), but what you striped it down to looks fantastic.

You talked about not getting the wood wet, however after you stripped with the Nitromoors, did you wash the wood down with water or a white spirit (I had read the spirit stops raising the grain ?).

I googled ‘ hot soda wash’ is this just dissolved soda crystal in hot water that you used to wipe down the wood after the stripper ?

Billy Burka – that one has got me and Google stumped

Do you find that shellac gives a better finish to just wax, apart from being better wearing ?

Thanks for the info and tips, I am starting to feel fired up to give this a go, looking at your results. I think it all boils down to confidence in getting started.

 

[NT]

Burco water heater

NT

 

[Nemesis]

Do they still make those?

Blimey!

 

[Toby Newell]

Sorry wrong spelling, it was an old tea urn, excellent for heating large amounts of water. And yes I know it sounds funny, on that job we used gallons of boiling hot water to wash the wood, only possible as we were doing the floor too! Some of the stripping and finishing details of how to are in my pieces http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/article039.htm and http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/article023.htm

Iron on oak, no water, no problem. Water on oak, no iron, no problem. Water and iron on aok at same time, problem. Just make sure you hoover up, brush off your work and hoover again.

METHOD

1. Strip with solvent stripper, wire wool and scraper (see article)
2. Neutralise with hot soda (cheap washing soda crystals) water, bleach with hot oxalic acid wash. Let dry. Wash off with hot water.

OR

2. Neutralise with methylated spirits (not white spirits, too oily) let dry.

3. Seal with shellac 2 - 3 coats sanding inbetween (see over article) then wax once or twice.

Waxing does nothing on its own, I have never ever stripped a piece of wood and just waxed it. It's not how its done. Wax is an old fashioned version of furniture polish, its meant to add to the shine and clean, NOT be a finish in its own right. To get the shine of 3 coats of shellac you would have to do 10 waxes and waxing is hard work.

If your wood comes up nice and clean after stripping you dont need to soda and bleach it. If it has stains in it and is still patchy then this will make it look much better. Oxalic acid is a gentle bleach (made from over ripe Rhubarb) the great thing is it hardly affects the colour of the old wood, and just removes stains. It is the ONLY bleach you would use an an antique for example. The modern bleach is just awful, awful, awful.

There can be a lot of work involved, but the result will be beautiful timber that you just cannot find these days with a colour and patination that is hard to fake.

Toby