One of the tricks of the trade in the furniture restoration business is to moisten a small pad of cloth with gum turpentine and using car polish you polish off the filth on old french polished, shellaced or varnished surfaces.
You can get a quicker result if you use 0000 steel wool , and also if you use a clean and polish paste rather than just a polish paste, but you then run the risk of going through the finish. Its best to stay with a cloth rubber unless you are sure that you have a thick layer of old shellac or varnish.
The interior timber fittings in many of the historic homes in Australia have been brought back to an acceptable condition by the use of this technique.
|