I’ve got some oak chairs/barstools and have oak railings which all have the same problem. Which is dirt build-up where hands have touched/used the wood. On the railings, for instance, the build-up is blackish and is most pronounced at the newel post and other posts on landings. On the chairs it’s on the backs (of a captain’s chair, for instance).
I tried to clean these items with a kitchen scratcher pad and soap and water, which worked, but it appeared to remove the finish as well. This is on both the back of a captain’s chair on the newel post area.
I’m not sure what the current finish is, since I didn’t apply it. Now that some of the current finish is “gone”, I’m going to have to do either a partial refinish or a total refinish job.
Any advice here? Thanks.
John
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Take a rough terry cloth towel rag and mineral spirits and scrub away. It is built up grunge from many oily hands. If you were vigorous with the scratcher pad you may have gone through some finish--but probably not. Buff it dry with a clean rag and see what it looks like. You ought to be able to discern if the finish is intact. If it is, a coat of wax might brighten it up. I oversaw a cleaning of our church woodwork doing this process.
And, indeed, in re-reading your post, the finish may have worn off of the top of the chair and newel post. May have to re-coat.
I figured it was grunge from oily hands as you say. The finish is, indeed, worn off from where I used the plastic scrubber.
The problem now is what to do? Since I didn't apply the original finish, is there a problem with using, say, a wipe on poly? I suspect the newel post and railing were sprayed with lacquer, and have no idea as to what was used on the captain's chairs. Thankfully, the newel post and railing were left natural oak, so there's no stain to match. Not so with the chairs, however. They were a fairly dark golden stain (sounds contradictory, but I don't know how else to describe it). Where the finish is gone the wood is significantly lighter than the finished portion. I'll probably have to take them all the way down and start over. Sound right?
John
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