Question about quarter sawn oak cabinets

[briankeith]

The beautiful oak Silvertone upright I posted about last week has finally been scrubed clean using a good quality wood cleaner, any loose veneer has been re-glued nicely, the motor has be cleaned and re-greased, and the turntable felt replaced. BUT here is where I am looking for suggestions. The cabinet seems to be made of quarter-sawn oak, very pronounced grain also. It had years of old Pledge polish and wax buildup which took a lot of elbow gease to clean off. After several wipe downs with Formby's lemon oil the finsh still looks rather dull in some places, mainly along the sides and about a ⅓ of the lid seems dull also. I understand that when applying a good lemon oil that it helps to rub it into the wood in the direction of the grain using the lemon oil and 0000 steel wool. Others say to just to use a good quality paste wax. Any good wood workers out there that can offer a suggestion to make the "dull" areas shine again?

[estott]

I would not use lemon oil. You're just rubbing an oil of some kind into the finish and making it oily- it is just a quick fix. The old time home remedy was boiled linseed oil with turpentine, the only difference is that lemon oil smells nicer.

You should clean of what ever the finish is coated with (Go Jo hand cleaner works beautifully & you can find tips about using it here) and after everything is dry you can apply some Howards Restor a finish, then some wax.

[Silvertone]

You should try to determine if the original finish was dull or glossy. You might be trying to restore it to a state that it never had when new. Typically the phonograph makers offered a choice of oak finishes, and dull (or fumed) finishes were popular. The inside of the lid or inside of doors should give you the best idea of the original finish.

[Henry]

I would not use lemon oil. You're just rubbing an oil of some kind into the finish and making it oily- it is just a quick fix. The old time home remedy was boiled linseed oil with turpentine, the only difference is that lemon oil smells nicer.

You should clean of what ever the finish is coated with (Go Jo hand cleaner works beautifully & you can find tips about using it here) and after everything is dry you can apply some Howards Restor a finish, then some wax.

I used equal parts boiled linseed oil and turpentine when I oiled some walnut veneer speaker cabinets years ago. I would only use this mixture on wood which, like my speaker cabinets, was so oiled as part of the original finish, or on raw wood. I would not use it over previously varnished or lacquered surfaces. YRMV!

[estott]

I would not use lemon oil. You're just rubbing an oil of some kind into the finish and making it oily- it is just a quick fix. The old time home remedy was boiled linseed oil with turpentine, the only difference is that lemon oil smells nicer.

You should clean of what ever the finish is coated with (Go Jo hand cleaner works beautifully & you can find tips about using it here) and after everything is dry you can apply some Howards Restor a finish, then some wax.

I used equal parts boiled linseed oil and turpentine when I oiled some walnut veneer speaker cabinets years ago. I would only use this mixture on wood which, like my speaker cabinets, was so oiled as part of the original finish, or on raw wood. I would not use it over previously varnished or lacquered surfaces. YRMV!

You are right- an oiled wood finish is a different thing. BTW- I've read that most commercial Lemon Oil polishes are mineral oil wit a lemon scent.

[need4art]

If you want to do it right...take everything out of the unit-leave the horn in place and wipe the entire unit down with wax remover-several times. Let that dry for a couple of days. Use a tac rag to take lint and dust off. Get some amber shellac flaks and make up a 2 lb cut. Prepare a cheese cloth pad and make it wet with the shellac and wipe down the unit one side at a time and let it dry. Because you have not taken off the orginal shellac you can move and fill using this method. If you have some dull spots just repeat. You should not have to do this more than twice. If you want to dull the finish use rottenstone-but be carefull.

I just did this to a Brunswick unit and it looks great-its not really a lot of work.

If you go to the web and look up shellac this method is covered in great detail.
Abe

[briankeith]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! The reason I even mentioned Lemon oil was because my mother would always clean and lightly lemon oil all her oak furniture when I was a child. She never used anything but lemon oil with her weekly house cleaning when it came to her wood furniture. I still have some of her very old Oak pieces that were handind down from her mom to her and they still look as good as the day they were made. She used nothing but a good wood cleaner (Murphys, not sure) and lemon oil, but now I see all the other ideas you all presented here. Lucky for me this Silvertone cabinet is in almost perfect condition with only a few loose sections of veneer what I already re-glued, and a very slightly warped right side record storage compartment door.

[edisonrestorer64]

to gently clean the cabnit I Myself use that 50/50 stuff and If it is just removieing dirt built Murphys Oil Soap and a 0000 steel wool or the cotton cloth 100% the finest you can get .
This my humble opnion and my $.02 worth

[edisonphonoworks]

I have polished cabinets with Howard's Feed and Wax, or I have used Butcher's bowling ally wax on the cabinets, and they look good. I think your cabinet though looks pretty nice, the color is certainly not alligatored or discolored, and that is good.

[briankeith]

Actually edisonphonoworks, this photo was taken before removing the motor parts and scrubbing down the Oak's heavy wax build-up with Murphy's wood cleaner. You can notice some darker spots on the lid and a liitle on the doors. These slowly came off with 0000 steel wool soaked in Oil English lemon oil, and a lot of elbow grease. There were some minor areas of loose veneer which I re-glued on the lower sides of the cabinet. The only problem with the cabinet now is the right side record storage compartment door is slightly warped and will not close tightly like the left side door does. Plus the grille cloth is totally missing with no remnants of the original what-so-ever, so I am clueless to what color was on this Silvertone? Does anyone know? And PS: I am looking for an easy fix to that warped door problem too since I'm not a woodworker by any means. This is my third upright with an Oak cabinet - I have fallen in love with Oak!