Mid Century Walnut Table Refinish Needed

My friends have mid-century Scandinavian walnut tables, two lamp tables and a coffee table. The tables are gorgeous.

The finish on all of the tables is sticky to the touch. I suppose they have 50 years of polish and whatever on them. The tables look good, no scratches or dings. The joints are all sound as well.

They have ask me to refinish them. I am not a "refinisher", I have no experience. I have no intention of charging them for the work if I do it.

I need to know how to strip 50 years of grunge from the pieces and then what to do to the finish. I wonder if scraping with a card scraper would work. I might try a small area in an inconspicuous place. Any help will be appreciated.

What product should be used after stripping the grunge off?

Can you post some pictures of the items? Are they solid wood or are they a veneered substrate?

To answer one question, you probably don't want to sand or scrape off the existing finish. If staining is necessary, sanding or scraping will not wholly remove the existing finish.

If they are sticky, then it's possible it may just be built up oil (from a variety of sources) that needs to be removed.

Do the tables LOOK good? Before throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I would try wiping an inconspicuous part with mineral spirits. Wipe it then with a clean rag until dry. Let it air dry after that for another 15-20 minutes and feel for any residual tack. If you can get away with a good cleaning this way, it may be the cheap way out.

I agree with the above...antiques very often just need proper cleaning and one must be very careful with what gets used so that there is "cleaning without dissolving the original finish".

I think Jim and Prashun hit the mark. I don't have any pictures.
Maybe I will order a copy of "The Furniture Doctor". I used to have one, but I loaned it to somebody.

The finish looks great. I only want to remove the grunge and then polish the existing finish. I was wondering if a very light scraping to only remove the sticky coating on the surface would work. In my heart, I know that's not the thing to do.Maybe using mineral spirits or alcohol would do the job. Lacquer thinner scares me a bit. It might be too much. If I undertake the job, I would check a spot underneath the table.
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Maybe using mineral spirits or alcohol would do the job. Lacquer thinner scares me a bit. It might be too much. If I undertake the job, I would check a spot underneath the table.

The table in the picture is similar to the pieces I'm talking about.

Alcohol and lacquer thinner aren't where I'd start. If the finish is indeed shellac or lacquer, these solvents will attack the finish - not only the grime.

The MS will dissolve most oils and is a good place to start. On a hardened shellac or lacquer surface, ms will be gentle. On a cured varnish surface, the MS will have no effect on the topcoat.

'old' shellac, lacquer, or varnish usually don't become soft; they may crack or peel or blister, but stickiness is more likely some kind of oil. It is possible someone tried to polish it with something like linseed oil, and did not buff it off. Over time, this creates a gummy residue that's tough to buff off without a compatible solvent like mineral spirits.

Follow Prashun's advise - use mineral spirits. If you use alcohol or lacquer thinner you have a very high probability of ruining whatever finish is there and have no choice but to undertake a complete stripping and refinishing.

John

Thanks guys! You have confirmed what my intuition was telling me. Any solvent other than mineral spirits would be too much. It sounds like a lot of work to me. I may agree to take one piece and have a go at it.

It's not a lot of work if it's just gunk built up on an otherwise sound finish. The MS will quickly remove anything that's oil soluble. If the finish still looks OK after that, but the piece still looks like it has some dirt on it, then try Murphy's Oil Soap which will remove water soluble stuff. You should be able to do the table in your photo in 30 minutes, tops. If the finish is still sticky or looks poor after you have gotten it clean, well, then you are in for some more work. Still not a lot nor a hard job, though. A chemical stripper like Klean Strip Premium will strip off lacquer, shellac, and similar finishes about as fast as you can apply it. (Read and follow the safety info.) 30 - 45 minutes for that table. After you neutralize it you are ready to refinish.

John

Thanks John, I forget about Murphy's Oil Soap. I think your solution is how I will approach the task.

One step I learned was to clean the entire project with GoJo hand cleaner. Not the pumice type and not the new 'green' cleaner water based one; use the old fashioned cream hand cleaner.

Will clean most anything off the surface and will not harm the finish.