How to Clean Your Home’s Wood Furniture

I was given much of my furniture from friends of my family when I first moved out on my own. Later, my husband and I chose to augment our furniture from antique stores. We both preferred the look of real wood over any other finish. When dealing with used furniture a number of issues come into play. Is the wood finished in a way that doesn’t suit your tastes? Is the wood damaged in any way? Is the wood finished in a way that allows you to dust easily? Choosing the proper wood cleaning product to solve bad finishes, damage, and to perform weekly dusting, will help you reach a point where you can maintain your wood furniture in a, green, eco-friendly manner.

Clean Badly Finished Wood Furniture [See Photograph 1]

I’m guilty of this sin. Oops. My first house had dark wood panels so I wanted my wood furniture to match. So I sanded off the old finish and applied lots of gloppy, dark stain to beautiful wood. In the process I hid the grain. My husband and I have purchased other wood products that had paint on them.

The nicest thing to do to wood is to not to sand off finish. Use a product like ZipStrip to remove old and ugly finish without damaging the underlying wood. ZipStrip and similar products are not eco-friendly. Reusing old furniture is very eco-friendly. Not only do you save another tree, you reuse wood that can from an old regal, tree that might currently be endangered or extinct. See my attached link about endangered species.

To use ZipStrip, you paint on the chemical and allow it to sit 5 minutes or more. Do this is a well-ventilated space-outdoors is highly recommended. Once the ZipStrip has undermined the finish, scrap off the combined finish and chemical into another container. We use JIF peanut butter jars for this because they are the perfect size to hold and have a good solid lid. Add a second layer of ZipStrip. This time, scrub the wood with steel wool before scraping the finish off. Once the entire piece of furniture is stripped, scrub the furniture down with SOS pads to remove the last of the chemicals. Once dry, apply a grain revealing finish like our favorite SeaFin Teak Oil. SeaFin Teak Oil is a product used on nautical wood and can withstand much where and tear. The oil sinks into the wood and helps preserve it. Our furniture lasts several years before my husband has to reapply it.

Clean Damaged Wood Furniture

To repair gouges in wood furniture, sometimes the only thing you can do is fill them with a fake wood filling and allow it to dry, then sand it smooth before refinishing. If your furniture is scuffed and scratched, a product like Old English with a bit of stain can help fill in and hide them.

Clean Naturally Finished Wood Furniture [See Photograph 2]

I don’t believe that vacuuming or dusting furniture actually removes dust-my experience is most ends up in the air and back onto your furniture. I learned a trick from my hardwood floor salesman who told me the best thing to clean hard wood floors is cold dilute vinegar water-a very eco-friendly solution. I dust with vinegar water. When the wood has lost some of its shine, I use Murphy’s Oil Soap to add in a little oil even as it gently cleans.

In general, if you finish your wood furniture to display it’s natural beauty, you will find that you can clean in an eco-friendly manner and have tough, durable furniture that you can pass on as an inheritance to someone else.