Restoring Moller 71 chair Bring Teak to its natural beauty

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NULL NULL

(@szark1980gmail-com)

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Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 22

07/12/2012 3:53 pm

Hello everyone on this very helpful forum
I have 4 Moller chairs in Teak and they are in quite good condition but i would like to bring them back to life.Mine are quite dark,dull probably because of varnish /lacquer specially on legs and i would rather have them in this natural yellow/orange teak colour .My question is how can i achieved that ? how can i strip that colour without too much sanding
so far i have tried on one chair:
-white spirit and then sanding with 200grid paper no too much as i dont want to loose patina and finally rubbing teak oil with 0000 steel wool ( i know its not very recommended to use steel wool ( it cracks and leave tiny pieces in the wood) might try dry/wet 400grit paper instead)
overall effect not bad but still far from what i would like to achieve.( too dark)
i guess i need to strip that varnish even more to get lighter natural teak colour.
what about applying oxalic acid ? what are you thoughts and suggestions.
thanks a lot
Photos from TOP :
my chair before any work
chair after sanding and oiling
effect that i would like to achive
<img class="wpforo-default-image-attachment wpforoimg" src=" http://old.designaddict.com/sites/default/files/forum/Screen_sh

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HowardMoon

(@howardmoon)

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Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 652

07/12/2012 4:07 pm

Your chairs are made of rosewood not teak.
They look fine to me, perhaps a gentle clean is all that is needed. Lovely chairs.

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NULL NULL

(@szark1980gmail-com)

Eminent Member

Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 22

07/12/2012 4:17 pm

Thanks H.moon
i was going...
Thanks H.moon
i was going to as about it ,as i suspect it might be a rosewood ( i am not an expert) because it was too dark for a teak but not dark enough for rosewood but then again every kind of wood have many shades.
thanks again

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(@bj)

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Posts: 1404

07/12/2012 11:15 pm

what ever you do, keep the leather, it looks great!
dark woods tend to lighten with age (effect of uv) while blonde woods
darken (oak, birch, beech).
rosewood is very sensitive to this. Yours look fine.
rubbing them with fine steel wool and oil would be my choice,
but it seems you've done alright.

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tktoo

(@tktoo)

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08/12/2012 3:25 am

Ditto ditto on the leather.
How did that happen?

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tktoo

(@tktoo)

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Joined: 15 years ago

Posts: 2300

08/12/2012 3:25 am

Ditto on the leather.
With no exposed stitching to degrade, it could last a lifetime. If you must put dressing on it, be careful that any product you may choose does not contain petroleum distillates or solvents of any kind and use it very sparingly.
I'm all about keeping my stuff in good condition, but what's the point of having nice old things if they've been made to look brand-new?

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NULL NULL

(@szark1980gmail-com)

Eminent Member

Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 22

08/12/2012 2:13 pm

definitely keeping old leather..
I received those chairs a week ago in that state and at first i thought about new leather but now i am gonna keep it ,thanks for pointing this.maybe some kind of leather restorer will throw new life into it but i think the way it looks is just fine and i am beginning to like it.
again thanks everyone for suggestion.

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vintagestique

(@vintagestique)

Prominent Member

Joined: 15 years ago

Posts: 187

08/12/2012 4:12 pm

As long as old leather...
is not torn it should be kept on old furniture.
I use Grison leather restoration cream on worn leather, great product to restore it's original shine and cover up light scratches without making it look like brand new.

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NULL NULL

(@szark1980gmail-com)

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Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 22