Can you help?
+12
I have this beautiful antique cedar chest made of burled wood. As you can see it is beautiful, except for the top. It feels sticky to the touch and is very dark in places. I have used a very good cleaner/polish on it along with elbow grease and can’t get rid of the dark parts that hide the wood. Refinishing is cost prohibitive plus I know sometimes when you refinish pieces it decreases the value. Looking for alternative suggestions.
For the sticky part try W D 40 on an inside part first. If no problem affecting the wood it should get rid of the sticky stuff. As for the difference in color check on Pinterest.
That is probably the cedar oil seeping out of the burl. I would clean it off with some mineral spirits, and fine steel wool 0000, then use a coat of shellac over it to prevent the oil seeping out. Shellac is used to prevent resin and oils from seeping out of knots.
Unusual piece, I've never seen a cedar tree with a burl.
Hi- I would suspect your chest received water at one point, which would cause the dark areas. Maybe it travelled across the ocean. In the old days, people used all kinds of stuff to finish wood, including old motor oil, linseed,turpentine,kerosene, (why it remains sticky) or burning the woods slightly to accentuate the grain. I would just put a nice scarf or cushion on top when I wasn't showing off the burl. You can't fight mother nature.
Hi- I would suspect your chest received water at one point, which would cause the dark areas. Maybe it travelled across the ocean. In the old days, people used all kinds of stuff to finish wood, including old motor oil, linseed,turpentine,kerosene, (why it remains sticky) or burning the woods slightly to accentuate the grain. I would just put a nice scarf or cushion on top when I wasn't showing off the burl. You can't fight mother nature.
Hi Sharlene,
It's recommended to clean burled wood with linseed oil, but if there is nail polish on it, I'm not sure that it will work. :(
This link is about how to get dark spots out of wood, in general, which are usually cause by water. Maybe this will help. Wishing you the best - Linda
Hi there,
The stickiness could be a build up of polish over the years. To clean it off use hot water and washing up liquid and a soft nail brush. I cleaned up years of polish from my Mother in laws Dining table. It brought it back to the original colour.........Work in gentle circles. May need more than one go to get it right.............Best of luck!
You may need to clean this with turpentine, check a can for directions. See my page for directions on how to apply a French polish which is maybe what your lovely cedar chest needs.
My pleasure - best wishes.............
Mineral spirits would be a better choice to clean the piece with as it won't wreck the finish as turpentine will. It removes built up wax and any resin seeping out. The darkening could also be the shellac finish as it darkens with age and sunlight exposure and was the choice back then for fine furniture.