Raw wood is cut and finished into exquisite home furniture. Before a finished wooden furniture is created into a marvelous wooden creation, it has to go through multiple steps to refinement. The wood in its raw form has a coarse and uneven surface and needs to be cleaned, smoothened and polished for the final look. Over a period, when this priced wooden possessions wear-out, home restoration can be quite helpful. It is a good idea to understand how to restore wood furniture without sanding and other time-consuming methods.
Why restore wooden furniture?
All kinds of wooden furniture can be fixed to perfection with some basic know-how of wood restoration. Its easy to brush up your carpentry skills and know how to restore wood furniture without sanding. From washing the surface to sanding or rubbing the surface for a smooth finish, your do-it-yourself projects will become easy with the right knowledge. First of all, furniture restoration requires a good amount of time. Physical effort will also be needed by the woodworker.
Be it an antique chair, bedside table or a wooden, restoration can be rewarding work. It will not only make your furniture as good as new but will also save costs of buying a new one. While doing so, you might prefer to use traditional processes like sanding paper. However, modern tools will prove to be more effective.
Procedures for how to restore wood furniture without sanding
The restoration requires you to do running, scrapping, sanding and polishing of the furniture. Most of the process can be done using simple tools which are easily available. Sandpaper is a good option for do it yourself (DIY) projects, however, it might not be the best option for professional-grade woodwork. The wood projects which involve heavy and long wooden structure creation, usage of reliable tools is recommended.
Along with this, figure out the type of restoration that is necessary. For example, check out how much gap filling, crack healing is required. And, what type of wood wax will be suitable for performing the same. For closer look into restoration process, let us look at how to restore furniture step-by-step without the sandpaper.
How to restore wood furniture without sanding
Wooden furniture is often restored through cleaning, and polishing. Your requirement may or may not involve sanding the furniture. Cleaning, removing stains and re-polishing will be needed to restore the furniture, however.
1.Clean the furniture
Clean the furniture with a plain cloth. Avoid direct rubbing to remove any kind of stains. Instead use a liquid ivory soap for giving it a thorough clean look and feel. Sometimes, much of the worn-out look is due to the dirt deposits on furniture. Check out for oil based varnishes which can remove minor stains without rubbing.
2. Start with rubbing the surface
To start, try to figure out what should be the best method and tool to rub and remove stains from the furniture. If the wood is delicate in nature, then choose rubbing papers, and gently scrub on stains. For small woodwork, other than sandpaper, you can take pumice stone or also walnut shell based sanders to even out the wood surface.
3. Check the restoration need
For light to medium woodwork projects, simple rubbing techniques are sufficient. However, to perform professional-grade restoration, use tools which can help you remove stains using solvents or restoration oil that even out the surface texture. There can be scratches, or cracks that might also need some serious work. Use lacquer or varnishes that camouflage and also help cover up the appearance. Apply such varnish and let the wood dry for a day. Take a clean piece of cloth and perform gentle rubbing and prepare for the next step.
4. Strip the surface, fill cracks
If the wooden piece is older and more aged for restoration then techniques like stripping can be of immense help. Sometimes, stripping the old surface and applying wood wax or epoxy to create a firm new coat. This fill the gaps and cracks before stripping is done. For knowing how to restore wood furniture without sanding, you simply need to gently scrap the furniture without sandpaper by applying stripping solvent. Then, once the solvent is absorbed well, start scraping the surface with a stripping tool. This should be done gently without hampering the wax work that is done earlier. Once it is done, apply liquid stripper and use a brass-bristle brush to remove the scrapings. Let the furniture sit for a couple of hours before you start the re-staining process.
5. Apply suitable stain and finish
Check for wood stain that matches the surface. You can also choose stain that can revamp the look. Find one tint darker to make the wood piece appear as good as new one. Choose a suitable stain and apply it thoroughly. Allow the stain to rest for a day and merge with the surface. Once the stain has merged well, rub the surface and clean it with cloth. Let the stain dry well before applying polish with a brush. Take preferably gel-based stain for your furniture. Sometimes, oil based stains are also suitable for restoration works. Post this, choose a suitable wipe-on finish to give the furniture its final appearance.
Choose a wipe-on finish with thick consistency and apply it generously, depending on the area restored. One coat of finish is usually enough, however, you can analyze what would be suitable. Let the finish dry out for a day and wipe the entire with clean cloth to finish the restoration.
Conclusion
We all own some or other type of old furniture and wooden pieces which can require periodic restoration. You can avoid expensive methods, and can easily refurbish the furniture on your own. Although, restoration of old furniture is a time-taking process, it helps you flex your carpeting skills to the maximum. Keeping some tools like wood varnishes, surface polishers, wood stains, epoxy fixers handy is all that would be need for the work. No matter how big or small the woodwork is, simply analyze the requirement before proceeding and refer to this self-help guide.
