Third bit from the right

It’s been a while since my last post (summer, new job …) but today’s a public holiday and it’s beautiful outside. Perfect conditions for cleaning wooden chairs with some home-made furniture cleaner. This is yet another tip I picked up during that French polishing course I mentioned in my post about applying beeswax.

I made these chairs back in the 1990s. The wood is Australian ash and I finished them with Danish oil. I’m pretty sure today is the first time I’ve given them a good clean. They’re not really that dirty – except for all the spots where they get handled a lot, in particular the back rails (as you can see in the photo below).

A bit about when you’d use this cleaning product

According to my course notes, this is the sort of cleaner you’d use on a piece of furniture with a clear finish, like Danish oil (especially if you were going on to French polish it). But you could also use it to clean an old and dirty piece of painted furniture. It’s ideal for my chairs because the mixture penetrates the grain and effectively revives the finish.

What you need

• white vinegar
• methylated spirits
• linseed oil (preferably raw)
• pure turpentine (preferably pure turps because it’s a vegetable product, unlike mineral turpentine)
• soft rags
• a jar
• a measuring cup

My tin of linseed oil is over 20 years old. I googled to find out if it would still be OK and apparently as long as it’s clear and golden in colour it’s fine.

Make up the cleaner:

• Pour equal parts of vinegar, metho, linseed oil and turps into a jar
• Shake into emulsion

I made up about 200 mL and this was enough to clean all four chairs, with a bit left over. The oils separate pretty quickly so remember to shake the mixture regularly.

Applying the cleaner and wiping it off

• Saturate a clean cloth with the cleaner mixture
• Wipe the cleaner over the furniture and leave it on for about 5 minutes
• Wipe it off firmly and thoroughly with a clean open-weave cloth
• Apply more cleaner to any areas that need extra work

On particularly dirty bits (such as here, on the tops of the front legs) rub firmly to get into the grain.

Dirty:

Clean:

OK, so the before-and-after effect in the two photos above might not be quite as dramatic as the viewing public would like. But the chairs definitely do look a lot better, trust me.

Make sure you leave your furniture outside for a while to air.