A correspondent asks what he/she should do about water stains on a pair of teak-faced molded plywood chairs, believed to be designed by Arne Jacobsen. I gave this advice:
I think a safe course of action would be to try fine steel wool or Scotchbrite with mineral spirits. If no improvement is seen after drying, then a light sanding with 150 grit paper (which will remove any finish coat to the areas being treated) until stains disappear, is indicated. Work the sandpaper with consistent finger pressure in the direction of the grain only, and take care not to sand through the veneer at edges. Application of miniral spirits (paint thinner) will show the effect of a new finish over the sanded areas.
How should the owner be directed to refinish the chairs following this sanding ? Wouldn't the first step be to determine what sort of clear finish is present on the pieces ? How would one reliably prove lacquer vs oil vs wax ? What could one expect production Danish chairs to be finished with ?
Thanks for any help. SDR
Before sanding please read!
Sanding will destroy some thickness of the veneer, try a furniture refinisher that will dissolve most finishes EXCEPT varnish. Shellac or any of the tung oil or rubbed oil finishes will redissolve in this stuff. No damge to the wood no bleaching or stripping color. This JUST reliquifies the finish. It's mostly acetone so proper ventilation is a must. If this succeeds in evening out the tone satisfactorily then let it dry and then buff to restrore the sheen.
Water rings / stains
In my experience of restoring these chairs you must firstly clean them with a good wash to remove any old waxes or polishes applied over the years.
Use sugarsoap (trinatriumphosphate) in warm water and a cloth.
The wood will look dull once this has been done but fret not.
If the water mark is stil evident in a strong darker colour you can use a saturated oxalic acid solution to bleach the darkend areas only.
You must NOT let the acid dry on the wood but immidiately remove it with a water soaked cloth.
If the acid is allowed to dry it will crystalize and show up after oiling.
dry the chair thoughrougly and leave to dry in the sun or somewhere warm.
The jacobsen chairs mostly came with an oiled finish for the teak chairs so no other varnish needed unless you WANT to seal the top.
Once the chair is dry rub gently along the grain with grade 0000 wirewoll soaked in teak oil. Do this out side as the oil is "unhealthy" to breathe.
Allow the oil to soak in and dry and once dry rebuff the chair. This time with a white nylon scouring pad.
This will give you a wonderful matt finish and return the chair to the state it was before washing and without loosing patina.
Good luck
Simon
rare jacobsen teak table
I have a rare jacobsen teak wood table
and i have tried every thing most of you all have discribed steel wool paste wax, light sanding, but at the end of the day I still have that nasty water mark that some careless person must have put their ice water on 35 years ago not thinking that they would ruin a real gem. But i did find one solution that worked great I put a paperwate over it and said good night....
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