Antique Chest of Drawers

Furniture Handy Hints.

Antique Mahogany

For a high polish on antique mahogany, antique or otherwise, rub with lemon oil, pour alcohol on a soft cheesecloth and rub on to the wood. The mahogany will come up gleaming.

Teak
Goodbye Teak Stains

To remove stains from a teak table, mix table salt and olive oil, rub on, and leave for a while. This also makes a good polish though not for lightly polished furniture.

More stain removers

Mix olive oil with white vinegar, leave for a while then polish with a soft cloth. Or rub with a cloth dipped in camphorated oil, or equal parts of linseed oil and turpentine.
Use a few drops at a time, keep rubbing, then polish well. Have you always wondered if cigarette ash had any virtues? Cut a potato in half, coat it with cigarette ash, rub it over the stained teak. Wipe with soft tissue paper and rub with teak oil or the polish you like best. Remove water stains by rubbing with a block of camphor. This may take some time. Afterwards, rub with a good teak oil.

• Scratches. Here's an easy way to remove scratches from furniture, especially darker furniture such as an antique chest of drawers. Mix two parts of olive oil to one part vinegar. Rub on with a soft cloth.

• Heat Marks. To remove heat marks from furniture, apply a little furniture polish to the area, wiping off excess. Put three or four drops of ammonia on a damp cloth and rub heat marks carefully. Follow up immediately with more polish and rub up.
• White spots on furniture will disappear if you mix together salt and olive oil and rub on and leave for a while. This makes a good polish for all furniture except the highly polished kind.
• Furniture reviver. Make your own furniture reviver. Mix half a litre of linseed oil with quarter litre of each turpentine and vinegar, add one-eighth of a litre methylated spirits. Shake well before using.
• Subtle Scent. For a subtle scent on your furniture, add a few drops of oil of cloves, attar of roses or oil of pine or lavender to your furniture cream or polish. Use in bedrooms, guest rooms, in the hall or for a quick polish up before entertaining.
• Heat Marks can be removed from polished wood by rubbing with a damp blu-bag until dark blue, then drying well with cloth and polishing in the usual way. Or mix cigarette ash with olive oil and work into the marks. Use tips of fingers and continue until marks disappear. Finish with soft cloth.
  One or two drops of methylated spirits on a piece of cotton wool can also help remove heat marks. Rub the mark and the area around it until the mark is not so noticable. Then polish well in the usual way. Thin some raw linseed oil with turpentine and rub over the heat mark with a soft cloth, using only a few drops at a time. Keep rubbing until the mark goes or is less noticable. Polish well.
• surface scratches. For surface scratches on polished wood, rub lightly with a cork dipped in camphorated oil. When the oil has worked in, polish.
• White Rings. To remove white rings on furniture made by wet glasses, mix equal quantities of linseed oil and turpentine. Rub on the white ring marks. Will remove easily. Apply your favourite polish afterwards.
• Carved Wood. A small paint brush is ideal for cleaning carved wood furniture. Pour a little liquid polish in a saucer and dip brush in from time to time as you brush.
• Cleaner and Polisher. Mix 280 ml each of kerosene and vinegar. This makes a cleaner and polisher for furniture, tiles, marble, linoleum and paintwork.
• Water Stains. Remove water stains from furniture by rubbing with a soft cloth dipped in camphorated oil.
• Sticky Tape. To remove sticky tape from a varnished antique chest of drawers, spray liberally with Windex spray-on window cleaner, leave for a while. Tape will come off leaving no tell-tale marks. Polish as usual.
• Perfume Stains. To remove perfume stains from a polished table, treat stain with powdered pumice mixed to a thin paste with raw or boiled linseed oil. Rub lightly in direction of grain. Wipe with cloth dampened with plain linseed oil. Repeat as many times as necessary, then polish.
• Perfume Stain. Using the finest sandpaper, very lightly go over the white perfume stain and wipe clean. Then very sparingly apply a well-blended fifty-fifty mixture of olive oil and vinegar with a piece of cotton wool, or very soft rag. After mixture dries on marks, apply another very sparing coat and let dry before polishing with a piece of flannelette or similar. Note: if furniture is a light colour, use white vinegar; if darker grained try darker vinegar.
• Candle Wax. When candle wax falls on furniture, first chill it with an ice cube to make the wax easier to remove. Then prise off with a dull knife blade and polish wood in usual way.
• Lacquer can be cleaned with sour milk and olive oil. Buff off with soft cloth.
• Scorch Marks. To remove scorch marks caused by hot dishes on a lacquered surface try Brasso, if the ring marks are not too deep. Apply on piece of cotton material like an old singlet. Be sure you shake the Brasso well and rub well in a circular movement. The powder in Brasso has a cutting paste in it and will eventually cut the rings out if they are not too deep. It might be easier to get Repo, the one with white powder included. As this is a lacquer reviver, you can apply all over the table. Do not just applyand wipe off; you reallly need elbow grease. After applying, use a piece of flannette to take the greasy look off the table. Repo is found at car accessory departments.
• Painted Funiture. If you polish painted funiture with a clear wax or cream, it is much easier to clean and does not require washing. Make your own polish by mixing a cup each of paraffin and vinegar and 1/2 cup linseed oil. Shake in a bottle and apply with a piece of flannelette. This is good for all painted woodwork.
• Cigarette Burns. Here's how to deal with cigarette burns on wooden furniture. Mix a paste of powdered pumice and linseed oil. Rub well in direction of grain. Remove with a cloth dipped in plain linseed oil and repolish.
• Pigskin Stains. To remove stains from pigskin chairs, rub with full strength Solyptol.
• Rust on chrome furniture can be removed by rubbing the area with crumpled aluminium foil.
• Leather Chairs. If leather chairs are dull, brighten by rubbing with half a lemon or stale beer. Polish with dry cloth.
• Grease Spots. To remove grease spots from a leather chair, rub well in a circular motion with eucalyptus oil. Then polish well.
• Glass Scratches. If glass scratches are not too deep, rub over lightly with Goddards Silver Foam which contains jewellers rouge, a mild abrasive. If this doesn't work, try jewellers rouge rubbed on lightly and then polished off. Jewellers rouge is very hard to get, but is available at large hardware stores.
  Some brands of toothpaste are quite successful for removing scratch marks on glass. Mix a level teaspoon of Silvo or Brasso with level teapoon of white toothpaste, apply with a soft cloth pad using a backwards and forwards movement. Cuts and polishes the scratches out. This is also good for scratches on perspex.
• Mildew on furniture can be removed by rubbing over with a solution of one tablespoon of vinegar in a pint of warm water. Wipe off, dry and polish as usual.