renewing an old finish

[Steve Jenkins]

I don't typically refinish or restore old furniture but things being what they are i have an armoir that the owner wants cleaned up. They don't want it refinished just made to look a bit better. The finish is a bit dull but in reasonabley good shape. Not cracked or crazed. I haven't tried to deterimine whether it is shellac or lacquer but suspect lacquer as it is a commercially made piece probably from the 1940's or so. I will wipe on some alcohol in an inconspicuous spot to see if it is shellac. Any suggestions on what to use to renew the finish will be appreciated.

[Scott Holmes]

I trick I learned from an antique dealer/restorer is to thoroughly clean the piece with GoJo cream hand cleaner. The stuff at the auto parts store that does NOT have pumice in it. Slather it on as you would mayonaise on bread and let it set. After 10-30 minutes wipe it clean with old terrycloth towels.

We did this to an old writing desk in my refinishing class the student brought it in and we used the Gojo then went to lunch came back cleaned it off and he said WOW. Set a phone picture to his wife and her comment was "wow ya'll refinished it already?"

[Steve Jenkins]

Thanks Scott.
I'll give that a shot

[Tony Bilello]

.....They don't want it refinished just made to look a bit better. The finish is a bit dull but in reasonabley good shape. Not cracked or crazed. I haven't tried to deterimine whether it is shellac or lacquer......

I use a commercial De-Waxer which is a wax remover and cleaner. Pretty much spray on and wipe off. Then I shoot a coat of vinyl sealer on it. The vinyl sealer will stick to either lacquer or shellac. Then you can top coat with either nitrocellulose or pre-cat lacquer. I prefer Pre-cat.

Scott: Question.....I have heard about the GoJo thing before but never tried it. Is there anything special that has to be done to clean the GoJo off if the surface will be recoated?

[Scott Holmes]

No special clean up... Gojo is mineral spirits based.

[Chris Fournier]

Scott,

Here is the MSDS on GOJO Orange hand cleaner without pumice:

http://www.gojo.com/united-states/ma...ner_02190.ashx

I can't see anywhere in the MSDS that it's mineral spirits based. D-Limonene is citrus oil based.

[Tom McMahon]

Wash down with mineral spirits, let dry, wipe down with a wiping varnish oil mix, buff off.

[Bob Wingard]

You might try spraying several consecutive heavy coats of very slow drying lacquer thinner on it. Keep it wet ... every time it starts to dry ... shoot it again, but not to the point of running. The soaking with thinner WITHOUT touching the surface will often times re-amalgamate the finish. Works great for checking & crazing, but it just might do the trick for you. Near the end, you might want t add a bit of actual lacquer, just to freshen up the appearance.

Be sure to thoroughly clean the surfaces first ... else you'll embed the crud in the finish forever.

Nice thing about trying this ... you can't do any damage if you don't touch or disturb the wetted surface. We've done this to old cars with metal flake paint that has cracked & crazed ... the slow drying solvent will soak in and mend all the cracks. If you can't readily locate a slow thinner, try adding some retarder to the regular stuff ... it might be easier to find,, probably at an auto paint dealer.

[Bob Wingard]

Scott,

Here is the MSDS on GOJO Orange hand cleaner without pumice:

http://www.gojo.com/united-states/ma...ner_02190.ashx

I can't see anywhere in the MSDS that it's mineral spirits based. D-Limonene is citrus oil based.

THAT would be weird ... a mineral spirits based soap ... it would dissolve the grease, but THEN what ??? You would never be able to rinse it off !!!

[Scott Holmes]

No, I was correct, Chris pick the orange cleaner, Bob jumped in.

Gojo ORIGINAL Creme is mineral spirits based. See below...

[Chris Fournier]

Right in the MSDS which I linked it states that you can clean it up with water.

Mineral spirits need never come to play if you're using this product.

It's plain common sense and good stewardship to use the least toxic cleaning agent/solvent possible - water beats mineral spirits hands down.

[Scott Holmes]

Chris and Bob take a look at this MSDS Sheet! I never stated that is was the ORANGE cleaner you said that it is MINERAL SPIRITS BASED.

Instead of taking shots at people, why don't you try to help?

http://www.hescoinc.com/msds/gj115.pdf


MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY CALL CHEMTREC AT 1-800-424-9300

1. PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION AND COMPANY IDENTIFICATION:

Product Name:

GOJO® ORIGINAL FORMULA™ HAND CLEANER

HAZARDOUS INGREDIENTS --- CAS NUMBER --- OSHA PEL --- ACGIH TLV --- % RANGE

Mineral Spirits ----------------------------------- 8052-41-3 --------------500 ppm --------------100 ppm --------------<40

[Chris Fournier]

Scott, you actually didn't specify to the OP which of the GOJO hand cleaners he should use except to say that it had no pumice and it was a cream. In the link I am including you will see that there are many GOJO hand cleaners with no pumice.

http://www.gojo.com/canada/msds.aspx

In my region, the Orange Cream hand cleaner is pretty much the only GOJO product which is stocked in Auto Parts stores and Industrial supply houses.

To be helpful one needs to be precise. I know that we all want to be helpful, so let's be precise shall we.

[Bob Wingard]

There's that scientist thing coming out again ... yep 500PPM (parts per million) ,,, that equates to 5 parts in 10,000 ... I believe that is 0.05 of 1 percent ... yep, that's "MINERAL SPIRITS BASED" by golly.

[Howard Acheson]

Scott,

Here is the MSDS on GOJO Orange hand cleaner without pumice:

http://www.gojo.com/united-states/ma...ner_02190.ashx

I can't see anywhere in the MSDS that it's mineral spirits based. D-Limonene is citrus oil based.

I believe Scott was referring to Original GoJo. Here is the applicable MSDS.

http://www.gojo.com/United-States/Br...ner_09020.ashx