How to restore an antique wooden piece of furniture
Not everyone loves airy, contemporary spaces filled with painted doors and characterless, monochromatic furnishings. Sometimes, an old wooden piece of furniture is all you need to feel at home.
It could be a cupboard that belonged to an elderly aunt or a small masterpiece luckily discovered among the rows of tables and cabinets at an antiques market: the most important thing, when you decide to bring back to life an antique piece of furniture that has been unused for many years, is to eliminate any damage and halt the process of degradation that may have affected the wood.
It is not uncommon to find antique wooden furniture in excellent condition , but sometimes a simple polishing may not be enough: if the wood is damaged, varnished or worm-eaten, it will be necessary to proceed with a real restoration.
Wood Restoration: Where to Start
In recent years, renovating furniture , rooms, and entire homes has become a real trend: it's hard not to notice the thousands of articles and social media posts on the theme of "home renovation," in which the original grain of old wooden furniture painted in the wake of 2000s fashions is brought to light, or antique fireplaces hidden by plasterboard in the 1980s are discovered.
Renovating wooden furniture , in particular, has become a widespread trend: thanks to the love that has always tied us to this material, its commercial value, but also the fact that this type of restoration can almost always be carried out independently, with few tools and a basic training that is relatively easy to acquire.
If the furniture to be restored doesn't have any major defects and doesn't require repairs or carpentry, you might consider undertaking a DIY renovation . The most important thing, in this case, is to use the right products and carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Wood restoration begins with an analysis of its condition: the first thing to do is to assess its condition and get a clear idea of the types of treatments it has undergone. Waxed or lacquered furniture , in fact, requires different treatment than varnished furniture. And if the wood is damaged, worm-eaten, or structurally weakened , it will need to be strengthened with repairs or the application of woodworm-repellents and strengtheners.
How to restore wooden furniture?
The process of restoring wooden furniture always begins by dismantling the elements that don't need to be treated, such as hinges, knobs, and handles. This leads to the first real step of the renovation: removing the finish.
Most of the time, you'll need to strip the paint , but it's still possible to find lacquered or waxed antique furniture. In this case, you'll first need to thoroughly clean the surfaces , then proceed with stripping or removing the lacquer (which is done by scrubbing the surface with a steel sponge).
After stripping the furniture of its old treatments, any damage can be repaired with filler and glue, after which the entire surface must be carefully sanded with very fine sandpaper or a small ball of steel wool.
Wood Consolidator: When to Use It
After cleaning the furniture again and ensuring all residue from the finish and any products used to remove it have been removed, it's time to proceed with any necessary consolidation work . If the wood appears to be affected by woodworms or has a weakened structure, with a spongy, soft appearance, it will need to be treated with a consolidation treatment.
New Chemical's solution to this need is called Consolidante MC-80 . It is a wood consolidant formulated with very fine particles of acrylic polymers , free of solvents and harmful substances, which penetrates deep into the wood fibers, increasing their surface hardness without altering their original appearance.
One of the main advantages of Consolidante MC-80 is its ease of application , making it ideal even for those who are not experts in the sector: simply spread it evenly over the wood surface using a brush, let it dry for 2-6 hours and proceed with a second coat. After 3-7 days, you can return to work on the furniture and continue with the restoration.
Renovating wooden furniture: the finish
Once strengthened and freed from any infestations, the wood is ready to withstand the final treatments, which are those that will give it thefinal appearance desired.
At this stage, you need to decide whether to treat the furniture with oils, paints or impregnants that can enhance its natural appearance or give it a new color.
If what we have discovered is a naturally beautiful wood , with fascinating signs of time and elegant grain, we can choose to use an impregnating treatment that nourishes the wood deeply and enhances its natural appearance.
In this case, a primer coat alone is sufficient to achieve an exceptionally aesthetic finish. And by choosing the right products, this step can also be used to protect the wood from humidity and deterioration.
Thanks to its combination of natural oils and waxes, Apilegno by New Chemical guarantees superior resistance to standard wood stains and provides excellent protection, even against atmospheric agents . It's also very easy to use: simply apply two coats of the product using a brush or a mohair trowel, taking care to wait about 2 hours between each coat.
Apilegno is the ideal product even if the natural color of the wood isn't too convincing: available in neutral, walnut, golden oak , chestnut, teak, mahogany, green, and white, it can give a completely new look to wooden furniture and artifacts, ensuring long-lasting protection and a long life in your home or garden.
