Chestnut Molding Refinishing

[Joe Yaemish]

I own a craftsman home (Upstate, NY) that was built in 1936. I'm fairly certain that the molding is all chestnut and most of it still has the original shellac finish. Most of the wood is in great shape, but over the years people didn't tape when painting, dinged it, etc. The color has also lost its consistency. Some rooms have wood that is lighter than other parts of the room.

I took a piece of molding off a window to address a draft problem and decided to begin refinishing (this particular window looked to have some water damage so I figured it would be a good place to start). I have attached several pictures that should help answer my questions. I really appreciate all suggestions.

I would love to be able to match the finish to what is there (the rich, dark spots) so that I don't have to refinish the entire house. I also want to stay away from finishes that take away from the history of the wood. Like everyone else, I want to see grain. I find that the denatured alcohol really takes a lot of color away. I removed a piece, took off the shellac, and sanded. Neither clear nor amber shellac will get the wood back to the color of the surrounding wood work. Everything is just so much lighter than the rich color the some of the surrounding wood work has. So, I'm open to suggestions here.

This is the sanded piece next to the original finished molding.


Some of the alligatored molding


One of the windows


Example of the blotchy molding


Much of the wood looks like this. This example is a little lighter than some of the other areas, but much of the window trim looks like this.

[Steve Schoene]

Your problem may have come from sanding off the old finish--removing the patina of age from the surface. If you use chemical stripper to remove the old finish you won't remove much of the natural color change that has occurred over the years. You may be able to refinish with just a shellac in one of it's natural colors.

Even if working with stripped instead of sanded wood isn't quite enough to let the finish alone achieve the color you want, a stripped surface is much more susceptible to taking stain evenly if it comes to that.

[Joe Yaemish]

That makes sense. There is a lot of bad information out there, I have posted in other forums and nobody ever thought about the age. If I use #0000 steel wool with the denatured, the shellac comes off very easily and the wood does't turn white/grey like it does with the sanding. Is the steel wool safe or will it take off the age as well?

Also, I have noticed that chestnut colored stains don't look to be the same color as my real chestnut once it is sanded. Are stains meant to mimic chestnut with some sort of oil? Also, is there a better way to finish my wood then to use shellac? The shellac finish comes of easily with denatured alcohol. Maybe there is another type of finish that would be better to use on the wood?

[Steve Schoene]

Shellac is very long lived finish--with much greater longevity than any other finish. Yes, it is susceptible to certain kinds of damage--alkalai cleaners and excess heat. Liquid water can damage it if left standing for a long time. But, house trim, except perhaps in kitchen and bath, doesn't face many stresses and shellac will work very well, be quick and easy to apply, and if there is any damage relatively easy to repair. Only kitchens and baths get seriously scrubbed so for those I would use an oil based varnish for much greater resistance to household chemicals.