We thought we’d share the process we used to restore one of the treasures we found. Not necessarily THE right process, just one that works for us. Here are the steps.
Pic 1 – West Michigan Furniture Co. credenza as found, stains on top, compression damage, split front leg.Pic 2 – Detail showing damage to credenza top, including two very obvious black water marks.Pic 3 – Applied Citristrip paint stripper to wood surfaces.Pic 4 – Preparing to deal with water marks.Pic 5 – Water marks were treated with Savogran wood bleach (oxalic acid), applied with a toothbrush per manufacturer’s directions.Pic 6 – Before and after treatment of water marks.Pic 7 – After addressing all surface defects (water marks, steaming out compression damage, etc.), all wood surfaces were sanded to a minimum of 180 grit sandpaper.Pic 8 – Depending on type of wood, some may require pre-treatment with a wood conditioner which will help with even absorption of stain. Some woods (i.e. birch) absorb stain unevenly, resulting in a blotchy appearance if not pre-treated.Pic 9 – After pre-treatment, apply stain. For this project we used Old Masters brand American Walnut Wiping Stain.Pic 10 – After staining the piece, lacquer was applied as a top coat. We’re trying to transition to environmentally sensitive products in our restoration work and to that end, used Valspar’s Zenith Waterborne Lacquer. Zenith is a Greenguard Certified product.Pic 11 – The lacquer was applied with a Fuji Mini-Mite 3 HVLP spray system. This spray system makes the application of top coats a snap. With HVLP, there is less overspray, so there is less waste of product. Also, in using the waterborne lacquer, clean-up requires water instead of noxious chemicals.Pics 12-16 – The finished credenza. The entire project took about a week.The finished top of the credenza.Before & After shot of coffee stains.Again, the finished credenza.Pic 17 – Repaired leg of finished credenza. We did not get a before shot of this leg, which was split down the middle and had to be glued and clamped.
