felixsays's Profile

Eclectorama wrote: "Of course that won't work with hardwood flooring, but for particle/chip board, if you can't get the odor out, then an alternative is to seal it in."

Yes, this is true. One of the easiest ways to seal in odors is with a coat of Shellac. You can find it in your hardware store next to the wood stain and polyurethane. Even a thin coat of shellac will block out most odors. It's easy to apply in thin coats, and it dries in minutes.

For discoloration, oxalic acid, also known as "Wood Bleach" (also available in most hardware stores/home centers) is the way to go. It comes as a powder and must be mixed with water. Use it in a dilute solution at first, and slow rub or wet-sand the stained area with a fine-grit wet/dry sandpaper.

But if you can get away with it, sealing with Shellac is must easier. I've used this on countless antiques that I've restored. Musty smells, cigarette smells, mouse pee smells - it locks it all in, and you get the added bonus of sealing the wood!

Inquisitrix:

Mineral oil is a non-drying, penetrating oil, which is perfectly fine on things like cutting boards. It may also be effective on wood where the scratch has penetrated beneath the varnish. The oil will penetrate and 'tone' the wood to a certain extent, much as if you apply water to dry wood, the color tone will change. However, as mineral oil is a non-drying oil, it will, as you say, remain 'slick' and may even eventually bleed out of the wood. For a deep gouge, it even has the possibility of penetrating the wood in the gouge, and then in attempting to bleed out, may cause some of the varnish near the scratch to lose its adhesiveness to the wood, making a small scratch even worse. Bottom line, keep your mineral oil to your cutting boards, not your furniture.

Also, as someone else stated, walnuts work because they are rich in oil, and oil has the ability to tone that dry wood exposed under scratches and scuffs to a color near that of the varnished wood. However, walnut oil does indeed go rancid, as do most other vegetable oils if not properly treated first. This, for example, is why you rub your cutting board with mineral oil (does not go rancid) and NOT with olive oil (quickly goes rancid).

Your best bet is to use something like Howard's Feed n' Wax or Howard's Naturals Wood Conditioner. These make use of oil and wax blends. The (drying) oils penetrate the wood to fill the wood cells and tone the wood, and the wax acts as a sealer to keep that repair in place.

Also a professional woodworker.

If the original joint used hide glue (which is the most likely case in antique furniture made before modern PVA glues came into widespread use, a bit past mid century) then you can often re-glue the joint with hide glue. Hide glue is great, because it's very sticky - it sticks to wood, and it sticks to itself if there is old hide glue residue present in the joint. No need for sanding. You can find liquid hide glue in a bottle for repairs from the Titebond company.

For a very damaged joint, a good gap-filling adhesive is advised over this "glue and saw dust mixture". The simplest thing to use is a quality 2-part epoxy glue. Mix the two parts equally, and wait until the glue is no longer runny, but forms more of a pastey consistency. Apply this to the surfaces to be joined. It has good gap-filling properties and will be much stronger than any "glue and dust" concoction you make. I recommend a long-time epoxy over a short-set one (eg, use the 30 minute set, not the 5 minute set) because the resulting dried epoxy tends to be more flexible with the longer-set versions.