10 Tips About Caring For Wood Furniture

By Author: NZoutlet
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1. To clean the finish on your wood furniture just use warm water and mild dish soap. Cleaning furniture with water won't harm it -- just be watchful not to soak it. Utilize an old toothbrush for hard-to-get areas. Clean the dirt off the surface with soft cloths or towels until they come up literally clean. Then dry off some residual moisture with a soft cloth.
2. After a cleaning, the top way to protect the finish is to use a good-quality soft paste wax. Apply a thin coat as directed on the label. Then wait for five minutes and buff lightly with a soft (shoe) brush or cloth. Wait another 20 to 40 minutes and buff/brush again with a bit more vigor. You'll see a good-looking shine return to the finish that will last for several months.
3. Keep your furniture out of the sun. The temperature of the summer sun coming through a window can go above 130 degrees. It will cook fine finishes, fading and destroying them over time, and dry out and shrink the wood, which will reason cracks.
4. Do not place wood furniture near heating units or vents. Dry heat will reason the wood to dry and get smaller, leaving cracks. Use ...
... a humidifier in the drier months to bring the humidity up to the 42 to 45 percent level.
5. For a quick-fix touch up, use the suitable color shoe polish on scratches and chips, particularly to make them less visible on the feet of furniture. Carefully using a matching-color felt-tip marker first will hide it even better.
6. When polishing metal hardware, take it off the furniture firstly. Take your time and make a note to remember what piece goes back where. Utilize a quality metal polish to get it shining again. Once it's buffed, put it back on, being careful not to scratch the wood surfaces. I advise that you don't try to do this all at one time. It can be a lot of work, so take some days, doing a few pieces at a time, instead of getting tired and annoyed with trying to do too much.
7. You cannot give food to furniture. No matter what the marketing says, wood cannot be fed or nourished or enriched with polishes or oils. Once it has a protective finish over it for beauty and protection, the wood is sealed. Polishes and oils will not penetrate it.
8. There are some ways to remove the white hazy ring or spot that the hot tea mug or hot pizza box made on your table. The least invasive way is to wipe it with a mild abrasive, such as non-gel toothpaste mixed with baking soda or cooking oil mixed with ashes. You can wipe it in a small spot with your finger or utilize a soft cloth on larger areas.
One more method that has superb results is to place a soft cloth or towel over the spot and iron it carefully for 15 to 20 seconds at a time with the iron at a medium setting. You can turn the iron up a bit if required. Always keep the iron moving and check your progress frequently.
9. When shopping for new or modern furniture, look at the back, inside and undersides of furniture and drawers. Many times it tells you more about quality than looking at the "show" side. The so-called "secondary" woods can speak volumes about the age of the item and the quality of manufacture.
10. Restoring or refinishing an older or antique piece of furniture to its original beauty might seem like a good idea, and many times it is. But it's important to get guidance from someone who is familiar about the item you are considering. You may find that your piece is valuable and just requirements a proper cleaning.