Finish on cedar chest

[Claude]

My wife has her mother's cedar hope chest, probably 70+ years old. Unfortunately, my wife watered a plant sitting on it and the water overflowed without being noticed. I don't have a clue if the original finish is varnish, shellac, or ??. Is there any way to sort of cover up the water discoloration? Maybe lemon oil, or Olde English something-or-other or ?? Eventually, I'd like to refinish the top completely, but for right now, I'd like to be able to just "hide" the worst of the water damage.

Claude

[pallin]

Claude, It looks like the water damage has penetrated the original finish and has deposited some minerals into the wood. I suggest that you use a furniture oil like Old English to hide the mark. Eventually you will have to refinish the surface.

[Midnight Carver]

I will start by saying that I have not tried this, but my friend did with good results (on his wife's brand new office table) and your damage might be too much for this to work but this is what my friend did:
1. Undo water damage: On a wood table, water spills left uncleaned, wet glasses or vases, or hot dishes can leave behind unsightly white marks and rings when the moisture seeps into the finish. Fortunately, unless you've had a spill linger on the surface for a long time, such as from a leaky planter, this damage can be repaired quickly. Start by placing a clean, thick towel on top of the stain. With your iron on a dry low-to-medium setting, press over the towel (making sure the soleplate doesn't touch the wood) for several seconds. The gentle heat will warm the finish enough to release the moisture into the towel. Lift the towel to check the results. Repeat as needed until the stain disappears. Polish and buff as usual.

Hope you find something that works
Eric

[Claude]

I forgot to mention that the top is veneer, and the water damage happened a couple of years ago, so it's totally dry at this time. Thanks for the info, Eric - I'll keep that solution in mind for the future. My wife has decided to try the Olde English on it...

Claude

[pallin]

Claude - I recently helped my son refinish a Danish modern table he had acquired for nearly nothing. It was a veneered top and had some scars and water stains thru the veneer. We bought some veneers at Woodcraft to piece in the repairs. After stripping the entire surface (including the leaves), we stained, sealed and refinished with polyurethane. We did not need to replace the veneer where there were only water marks.

[BrandantR]

How about a beautiful doiley???

[chipmunk]

try a very small spot with mohogany stain with your finger tip see if that matchs if u happy with the match add a little to the clear or just stain the spots then clear not really knowing what the finish is i say shellec most time it will turn a honey brown with age which a lot of finishs will i dont look like a cedar verneer a lot of times they put mohogany over

[Claude]

Thanks for all the suggestions. My wife had a bottle of Lemon Oil handy, so I got a drop of that on a finger and rubbed it in to the top in one small spot. It worked! The "white" totally disappeared and the wood looked all the same color again. A couple of days later, she went over the whole piece with her Olde English and, unless one looks really close and sees a slight difference in reflectivity, the water damage has disappeared.
Claude

[woodsman1st]

Morning Claude;
I have a real old rocking chair that I want to refinish. After lots of research I purchased this product; "FORMBY'S Furniture Refinisher".
According to the directions the old finish does NOT have to be removed; and there is only some light sanding to remove scratches etc.
This product blends the old finish back into itself allowing you to retain the old finish if you like the old one. The directions reccomend only doing a small portion at a time for best results.

I bought the can as I stated; but won't get around to doing it for another few days. It really looks kind of simple to do; and the people I talked to all claimed it does the job that it claims.

With all the work involved in refinishing, this looks almost too good to be true; but I was unable to find any complaints about it.
"Easily dissoves old varnish, lacquer and shellac without stripping" it states on the can. Then blends it all back to the original finish.

I will probably get around to doing the rocking chair in about a week; then I could give you first hand info. But if your in a hurry, check it out at your local hardware store.
Ken