Solid wood furniture has always had timeless appeal, but its popularity is due to more than just its looks. Yes, people worldwide enjoy the sight of wood furniture, whether it is a rustic country table or a sleek piece of Nordic minimalism.
Part of wood’s timeless appeal is how the furniture itself stands up to time. Over the years, solid wood furniture can better withstand the bumps and bruises that come with being a fixture in a home than its cheaper counterparts, but people can also restore the knicks and gouges to make pieces of wood furniture look brand new.
Here are a few tips for restoring your solid wood furniture.
Experiment With Stains And Conditioners On A Discreet Part Of The Furniture
When a table or other piece of solid wood furniture is dented or nicked, you can sand away the roughed-up part of the surface below the stain or varnish until it is gone altogether, and you will be left with a fresh wooden surface. You will need to put a finish or stain on the wood and possibly a conditioner, and you can’t always be sure how they will look on the wood.
Sometimes, the stain doesn’t take to the wood evenly, and the conditioner can help distribute the stain across different patterns of grains. However, stains can also darken the wood. Whenever using a stain, varnish, or conditioner, it helps to try it first on a discreet part of the furniture to see how it responds.
The colour will look different when it dries out. To see its final appearance on that particular piece of furniture, try dabbing a bit first on an inconspicuous part.
Careful Sanding
Restoring old wooden furniture involves eliminating layers of paint, varnish, stain, and possibly all three. Sanding is a great way to cut through these layers, but you need to be mindful of your grain type.
Try using medium-coarse sandpaper first, like 80-grit. When you need to penetrate through thick layers of old coatings covering the surface, ultra-fine grit won’t cut it. Once you are satisfied that you are looking at a fresh layer of wood, switch to 220-grit sandpaper in your power sander.
If the wood you are sanding starts out really rough, you can use the finer sandpaper first to smooth it down, then use 80 grit after.
You Can’t Restore Plywood
You can’t restore plywood furniture because the layer of veneer doesn’t contain enough wood to sand away. Buying solid wood furniture from artisans like Woodcraft is an essential part of restoration.
Choosing high-quality, solid wood furniture enables you to fix it up over the years to look brand new. Cheaper furniture that only looks like wooden isn’t made of one solid material and can’t be tended to the same way. All you can do to repair plywood furniture is paint it, but that is only a cosmetic, superficial repair.
It is better to buy quality furniture once and enjoy it for a lifetime rather than spend less on shoddy furniture that needs to be replaced every few years or so. Hopefully, knowing a few restoration tips will help you maintain your furniture so it looks great years from now.
