Treating Dirty Thirsty Wood

After consulting with first my father, the king of do-it-yourself projects, friend Tom Smitley, an owner of an amazing antique store on antique row, and the internet, a plan was formed. Before figuring out what to do with Ernest, I had to see what laid underneath all of that wax and dirt build up. This meant lots of scrubbing and cleaning while being very careful not to remove the underlying finish.

This leg of the journey starts at the Hardware store. Items purchased? A can of linseed oil, turpentine, and four aught gauge steel wool. Total cost? $20

Now you may ask, why linseed oil and turpentine? Turpentine is a solvent. It will help loosen the crap as the ultra fine steel wool takes it off the wood. Linseed Oil is a conditioner and a treatment. It will absorb into the wood making it both swell and re-hydrate. While inexpensive, it's messy and not eco-friendly. The old peanut butter jar used to hold the cleaning mixture is now sealed while i figure out where and how to dispose of it.

Back to the desk, rather the process of cleaning him. It took about 2 - 4 hours per cleaning with a total of five cleanings. Adding two separate sessions for the doors (removing them first) and leaving a generous week in between to for the wood to absorb what it could from the oils, the task took about a month to complete.

Pictorial step by step below


One December Sunday found me scrubbing away at the wood facade. The wood absolutely loved the linseed oil, soaking up as much of it as I could give it. 3 hours later the first cleaning was complete. In the below two pictures, please note the sheen from the oil as well as the missing dirt and wax.

above: the white marks are almost gone.
below: there lie hints of a very beautiful grain.

 The following weekend, found me repeating the process. Note that the sheen was gone and white wax returned as the oil had been completely absorbed.

This time it took about 4 hours. After the second  I had a definite improvement and could see a very good display of what was to come of this gem in the rough. However, there was still much dirt and wax to remove.

 

This was to become a bit of a tedious process. In fact, by the end of the 5th cleaning I had my gem.
Next will review the almost finished piece with an examination and assessment of what to do next.
(Also bonus points to you if you noticed the blurry streak of Yardley, my pup, running through the frame.)