Wood Furniture Polishes Guide - Tips and Secret!
A Covenant With Wood
A craftsman is but a handmaiden to his material. The inherent qualities of wood limit to a considerable extent the cabinetmaker's choices. Unlike plastic or rubber, concrete or steel, wood has a mind of its own. It is not easily bent and when bent wants to return in time to its original form. It is easy to break along its grain, yet it will withstand considerable shearing force. It warps without provocation and swells and contracts with the seasons as though it had entered a conspiracy with the calendar to loosen chair rungs in the winter and swell drawers shut in summer.
Wood cracks mindlessly, can shed a finish with disastrous effect, refuses to be cut from north to south yet yields submissively from east to west. It splinters, bows, cups, shrinks, loosens, swells, dents, cracks, gives off slivers, and changes color. Yet to many of us wood remains the most pleasing of all natural materials, for in the richness and variety of its grain is to be found nature's texture incarnate. Wood is a kind of bridge between man and that organic mass of growing things he calls Mother Earth. Wood is a renewable resource which has given us warmth and shelter and provided unrivaled joy to the eye and to the touch since long before recorded time. Along with water and stone it is our most fundamental material - without it our world would be an alien place. In wood man fashioned his first tool; in wood he built the ladder with which he has ascended over the millenia. It literally surrounds us from the cradle to the coffin. Wood may well be called the foundation of civilization.
When the craftsman commits himself to work in wood, he becomes a party in a contract. If he is sensitive to his material, he enters into a kind of covenant in which he acknowledges a certain subservience to his medium. He agrees (1) to come to understand, not in a cognitive way, but through feelings, the nature of wood; (2) to admit at the very beginning that there is no such thing as perfection in wood, for in spite of all his efforts there will always be some minute blemish, some telltale error, recorded in the wood though known only to the builder; (3) in laying out and forming joints, to anticipate the inevitable movement that will occur long after the work is finished.
Know Your Furniture Polishes
I'll begin with some general answers and principles; we'll talk about specific types of polishes later . . .
The safest, and perhaps best, answer is to use as little polish on as rare an occasion as is absolutely necessary to keep the furniture clean and looking good. The best polish for that rare occasion? You need to choose one that will do the best job of cleaning the finish, enhancing the lustre of the finish, and if possible protecting the finish, while doing the least amount of damage to the finish. With those things in mind, my advice to customers usually falls along these lines:
- Dust your furniture carefully. Instead of applying a furniture polish frequently, you should simply dust off your furniture to keep it clean. Be careful, though, dry cloths can put surface scuffs and scratches in many finishes, and dust can easily scratch most finishes. Be gentle and use a soft, lint-free cloth. Feather dusters also have a reputation for scratching finishes, and are shunned by many museums for this reason. There are new dusting products on the market that attract dust like magnets; these can be very good as long as they're soft enough not to scratch. The attracting quality helps prevent pushing the dust around on the surface. You can help your rag to pick up dust rather than distributing it by dampening the rag slightly, but beware: The addition of water or polish to your rag means you must dust less frequently, because very frequent use will eventually lead to moisture damage, especially on open-grain finishes.
- Spot clean food spills. When foodstuff gets spilled or stuck to the wood finish, it should be cleaned as soon as possible with a cloth dampened with water and a gentle soap, then immediately dried. Use no more water than is necessary to loosen any stuck food. It is a bad idea to routinely wipe down an entire table top after every meal with a damp or wet rag. If you do, you will virtually guarantee moisture damage to the finish, which may occur in just a few weeks, months or in a year or two, depending on the finish. If you're feeding several small children and find this kind of cleaning necessary after each meal, you should either obtain a plastic laminate table for them, or accept the fact that your real wood table will be damaged.
- Apply a well-chosen polish on the rare occasion. Once a month is usually too much, depending on the type of polish. Polishes containing a high moisture content (there are many of them) can create moisture damage just like pure water. To flood your furniture with this stuff regularly is like turning a water hose to the finished wood - the effect can be accumulative. Semi-annually, annually, bi-annually or tri-annually - any of these would be a better schedule, according to the need of the furniture.
After years of observation and experience, I have found that the majority of complaints about finishes on table tops were actually due to unintentional customer abuse or damage due to moisture. The well-meaning customer would not dream of placing a glass of ice water on her cocktail table without a coaster, but may see no problem with spraying a furniture polish on the surface every week - not realizing the polish contains a great deal of water.
"Moisture damage is probably the biggest danger of over-using most furniture polishes"
COASTERS, PLACEMATS, TABLECLOTHS AND OTHER "TERRARIUMS"
While the user may understand the need for coasters under drinking vessels, he may turn around and take a wet rag and wipe water all over the wood finish. What's worse, he may leave it to evaporate rather than drying it off immediately. Instead of water, he may use a polish which is also full of water unbeknownst to him, for the same effect. And still worse, he may cover the freshly wiped surface with drink coasters, place mats, tablecloths, magazines, etc. effectively trapping the moisture and forcing it to be absorbed more deeply by the wood.
When routinely trapping moisture beneath, say, a placemet, the damage begins to appear rather swiftly. First, a cloudiness or whitish appearance will form beneath the placement. Next, cracks will begin to form in the finish along the lines of the grain of the wood beneath. Finally, the compromised finish will begin to flake away. The water may stain the actual wood very dark at this stage. Many pieces have their appearances irreversibly ruined at this point, if the stain is too deep to be sanded or bleached out in refinishing.
The first time I heard a consumer actually break down and cry when I told her that the "defects" on her three-month-old open-grain oak table was actually water damage and was not covered under the manufacturer's warranty, I was a little at a loss as to what to do or say. The finish was "lifting" in rectangular patterns underneath the placemats. Soon, I found that this problem and variations of it are so common that I was able to harden my heart (for the most part) when the tears came.
Woodworking Rule of Moist Surfaces:
Never cover the surface immediately after wiping on polishes or other
forms of moisture. Coasters are great for keeping moisture off
your furniture: Place them under drinks on the dry surface.
Placemats can protect your table from food spills and from heat damage:
Use them at mealtimes; never place them over the surface when it is damp
with water or furniture polish.
Woodworking Furniture Polish Myth #1
Adds oil to the wood, keeps wood from drying out. Many polishes make this claim. The FACT is that most furniture has a protective film finish, which may be shellac, laquer, varnish, polyurethane varnish, water-based polyurethane, conversion varnish, catalyzed laquer, etc. The finish seals the wood - not 100% - but enough to maintain relatively stable conditions in ordinary use in climate-controlled homes and offices. "Oil" does not need to be "fed" to the wood. When oil is placed on the surface of these finishes, most of it remains on the surface. Any oil that penetrates the finish and goes into the wood has the potential of staining the wood, releasing the bond between the wood and its finish, or degrading the finish. Some oils dry, and others don't. The oils that dry create a second film of finish on the furniture, which will be softer than any of the finishes listed above, and which will yellow in time. Other oils do not dry, or cure, and they tend to leave a greasy or oily feel to the skin and have the additional quality of attracting and adhering dust.
Woodworking Furniture Polish Myth #2
Creates silicone damage to the wood. Many polishes contain silicone, which makes the surface very "slippery" and induces a fantastic "shine." Silicone reduces the surface tension of the item it coats, so it makes the surface slippery enough to make water bead up on it. A popular myth says that silicone will permanently damage wood. While there's no evidence that silicone causes actual damage to wood or to finishes by way of degrading them, silicone has the following drawbacks: It is very difficult to remove silicone, and new finishes applied over silicone tend to bead up and resist adhesion. Silicone can create nightmares for purist finishers, so finishers are the most likely to refer to "silicone damage" when speaking of the drawbacks of applying silicone-laden polishing products. A piece that has absorbed silicone can be said to be "silicone contaminated," and in the event the piece must be refinished, silicone can be added to the finish prior to application to even out the surface tension between the wood and the finish so that the finish will flow out and adhere properly. Silicone added to a finish is usually called "fisheye preventer," and some finishers despise the use of it, because they feel it is wrong to "contaminate the finish" with silicone.
Wax buildup. An entire industry of polishes has been built around the claim, "removes wax buildup." The FACT is that to be used as a polish, wax is dissolved in a solvent, like turpentine. If wax is applied properly, once the solvent evaporates all that is left is a very thin coat of wax. Wax which is applied and buffed out cannot be built up to a thick coat, which is what limits wax as a finish. When new wax is applied, the solvent in the new wax melts the existing wax. The solvent evaporates, the wax is buffed, and you're left with a thin coat like before. Wax buildup really only occurs in corners, around protrusions, and in recesses due to the fact that the wax is not easily buffed in those areas. A special polish is not needed in this case, the wax should be rubbed with a Q-tip, moistened with lighter fluid (naphtha) or turpentine if necessary. Oils that cure do tend to leave a build-up residue that can discolor with age, and are difficult to remove.
DANGERS AND DRAWBACKS IN FURNITURE POLISHES
Water damage. Most aerosol furniture polishes contain a great deal of water, and definitely enough to create classic water damage both to the finish and to the wood if used in excess. The user must be especially careful not to trap the moisture by immediately covering the wood with cloths, coasters, lamps or other items after applying these polishes Cream-colored polishes are emulsions, containing both oil and water, and the same caution applies.
Greasy residue. Many cream polishes contain oils that cure mixed with oils that do not. These tend to leave a thickening greasy residue on the surface. One should be careful to remove all excess so that this effect is minimized.
Oily film. Some polishes contain non-curing oils, and these can leave an oily residue which attracts dust and may stain clothing.
Silicone contamination. Some polishes contain silicone, which increases shine and offers a little protection from liquids and abrasives due to its slipperiness. Silicone permeates and is difficult to remove, so a piece that is permeated with it can be said to be silicone contaminated. This causes few problems other than adhesion problems, which most often come to play if the piece is to be refinished.
Health hazards. While furniture polishes are a long way from the category of anthrax, many of them can pose serious health risks if ingested. They can also present some with eye and skin irritations, due to the solvents found in them.
There are many products on the market, but the basic polishing products are wax, curing oils, non-curing oils and silicone additives. These basic ingredients are mixed with solvents and water, then fragrant substances are sometimes added.
- Clear vs. Milky
- Some polishes, though perhaps colored, will appear clear or translucent. These polishes contain no water. They are based on oils and solvents. They may contain wax dissolved in oil, or in solvents, or they may contain oil alone. These polishes will not clean food soiling: Sugars and starches and such are dissolved by water rather than solvent or oil. The solvents and oils can cause chemical damages to some finishes. They should be applied sparingly by moistening a rag or sponge rather than pouring them onto the furniture's surface. The solvents can usually clean marks left by vacuum cleaner bumpers, shoe soles, and other solvent-dissolvable soilings. Be aware that the oils may dry out and form an inferior finish over the existing finish, or they mey leave a greasy or oily residue.
- Some polishes will appear milky-white or cream-colored and opaque. These polishes, whether sprayed or poured, have water added to the solution. When oil and water are mixed in solution they form an emulsion which takes on a milky-white appearance. The oil and water mixture may contain solvents, waxes or silicones as well. These polishes are able to clean foodstuff and other water-soluble soilings as well as solvent-soluble soilings. They are popular due to this versatility, and with the addition of curing oils and waxes they can leave a lustrous sheen. Again, solvents (if present) and some oils may attack certain finishes. Curing oil can leave a cured film. Water can permanently damage the finish and the wood more quickly than the other ingredients, so you should be very judicious in your use of these polishes. Don't pour them on daily or weekly; try quarterly or semi-annually.
- Sprays vs. Pouring Liquids vs. Semi-solids.
- Aerosols. The grocery store aerosols, though contents vary, are usually emulsions and are the most likely to contain silicones. Unless you shun silicones, as so many suggest that you do, these have the same strengths and weaknesses of their pour-bottle cousins. They have all the drawbacks of emulsions given above, they have the same versatile cleaning properties, and may or may not have any great benefits for protecting the finish, depending on whether or not wax or silicone is present.
- Pouring Liquids. There is more variety here than in the aerosol liquids. These may be pure oils, oil-solvent, wax-solvent, oil-wax-solvent, or any of those with water added (emulsions). Of these, emulsions are generally preferred, but again be judicious in the application of it.
- Semi-solids. These are the paste waxes. They are generally a combination of wax to solvent, sometimes with silicone added. Waxes (without silicone, of course) are probably the oldest and earliest of finishes and polishes for wood, and wax is still the safest and offers the best protection overall. Wax is alot more work, though. It is applied, left to flash-off the solvents, then must be buffed to a shiny, thin protective coating. Wax protects the finish against abrasives and water. Beeswax is popular, and has been used from ancient times; other waxes are also used, notably the vegetable wax carnauba.
One of the best program choices for caring for your furniture is to budget for a furniture care specialist to come out on an annual basis and evaluate your furniture. These services can usually perform minor touch-up as well as major repairs and refinishing when necessary to keep your furniture looking good and in working order. This can be an important service, because sometimes the care required consists of skills possessed by but a few homeowners and businesses. For instance, a high-gloss piece may need to be machine-buffed periodically to remove surface scratches.
A professional can usually diagnose the cause of creeping damages, and offer recommendations for prevention or preservation. A damaged piece can be evaluated, and sometimes several options may be offered depending on cost-benefit analysis. In the case of corporate business ownership of large volumes of furniture, practical, long-term programs can be established to preserve the look and usefulness of a company's furniture. In the widespread "disposable goods" era, such considerations are often overlooked by individual homeowners and corporate furniture owners alike, often leading to costly repair or replacement down the road.
The Problem With Furniture Polishes
Polishing products are available in three forms; aerosol (spray), liquid and semi solid. Here is a quick look at their benefits and drawbacks.
Aerosols
The main attribute of aerosols is their convenience. However, they may have the serious drawback of damaging the surface and finish of the object. In general, the best you can hope for with aerosol polishes and cleaners is that they do no harm to the furniture.
Aerosols have been among the worst offenders in introducing silicone oils and other contaminants onto furniture. In addition, aerosols may contain a wide variety of solvents which attack varnishes and lacquers. While some of the "dusting" aerosols appear to be benign when applied to a cloth and not the surface of the object, the result is not really any better than using a damp, clean dustcloth.
Liquids
Like aerosols, liquid polishes are easy to use. There are two primary forms of commercial liquid products for "furniture care"; emulsion cleaner/polishes and "oil type" polishes. Emulsion polishes are water-based products whereby waxes, oils, detergents, organic solvents, and who knows what are suspended in a water solution for ease of application. These products can be extremely powerful cleaners which leave a desirable sheen on the surface. However, the visual effect is usually short-lived, diminishing as the liquid dries. In addition, in the past some emulsions contained abrasives to "aid" the cleaning and polishing process. The concern over introducing contaminants onto the furniture with emulsions is similar to aerosols, with the difference that liquids place a lot more material on the surface. 0il polishes are more troublesome. Much like emulsion polishes, oil polishes can be a complex blend of ingredients including oils, waxes, perfumes, colorants, "cleaners", and organic solvents and other materials. They can render extremely pleasing surfaces and are used frequently as final finishes by themselves.
However, the potential difficulty from using oils as polishes or cleaners is enormous. There are two basic types of oils with which we are concerned; drying oils and non-drying oils. The predicament you face is that regardless of which oil you have, there are serious problems. Non-drying oils tend to be the more benign, but there is the issue of an oil remaining liquid on (or in) the surface of any object. Dust and other airborne contaminants readily stick to wet surfaces, especially oils. At least these oils (paraffin, mineral, "lemon oil", which is usually mineral oil with colorants and perfumes added, etc.) don't really undergo chemical reactions or directly damage the furniture.
Drying oils, such as linseed, tung, or walnut oil, are a different matter altogether. These materials solidify, or "dry" through a process of chemical reaction with the air called oxidation. The drying process polymerizes the oil, making it increasingly intractable with time and more difficult to remove with cleaners or solvents. This is fine if oil is employed as the finish, but not good if it is used as a polish. By itself, having a polish which is difficult to remove would be irritating but not insurmountable. Unforunately, this is not the whole story. As drying oils age, they tend to become yellow or brown. Also, drying oils are chromogenic (they become colored) in the presence of acids.
In this instance the oil adopts the dark, muddy brown/black opaque appearance so prevalent in antique furniture. Traditionally, cleaning/polishing concoctions were comprised of linseed oil, turpentine, beeswax, and vinegar (acetic acid). This cleaning/polishing method, used widely even in the museum field until recently, was and is a disaster waiting to happen. The results of this approach are readily apparent to even the casual observer; a thick incrustation of chocolate colored goo which is neither hard enough to be durable nor soft enough to wipe off easily. Thus, due to the polymerization of the oil as it dries and the reaction of the oil with acetic acid, the furniture is left with an unsightly coating which is very difficult to remove without damaging the surface of the object.
By virtually any measure semi-solid polishes are the most beneficial to wooden objects. Frequently referred to as "paste waxes" these products are actually a very concentrated solution of waxes in an organic solvent or aqueous emulsion (Butcher's, Behlen Blue Diamond, Renaissance, Johnson's, and many more).
Provided the ingredients do not include silicone or other undesirable contaminants, paste waxes are an excellent material to apply to most finished surfaces of wooden objects. Because waxes are known to be among the most stable of materials, and don't encounter the severe deterioration problems inherent in the previously mentioned polishes, they are the polishing material of choice for furniture conservators and other caretakers of furniture and wooden objects. That is not to imply that paste waxes are without their faults, too.
Now for the bad news (followed by more good news). Unfortunately, wax polishes require the most active contact with the surface of the furniture, and also need the most physical labor to apply properly. Buffing out a wax polish can be very hard work, and as you might expect, the better the wax, the harder the buffing. However, I believe the results and benefits to the furniture are worth the extra effort.
Fortunately, as the most durable and stable polishing material, paste wax need to be applied much less often than aerosols or liquids. Ideally, wax polishing should be conducted infrequently, ranging from perhaps twice a year for areas of extremely heavy wear (desk tops, chair arms, etc.) to once every three or four years for table and chair legs, cabinets, etc. The need for new application of wax can be determined easily. If an surface can no longer be buffed to the sheen appropriate for a waxed surface, it is safe to assume that the wax has worn off and is no longer present. In that case, apply another light coat of wax to the affected area in accordance with the product instructions. If wax is applied too frequently or improperly, there will be an unnecessary build-up of material, which can be unsightly in itself and also cause particulates to adhere to the surface of the object. If used correctly, the solvent content of the new wax will "clean off' any previous wax remaining on the surface, and will simply integrate the old into the new.
Testing
There is a simple method to determine whether your polish may adversely effect the object. It will not tell you what is in the cleaner or polish exactly, but it will indicate how the materials behave. While this is certainly not a purely scientific approach, you should be able to draw some conclusions nevertheless. The test is this: apply a generous portion of the polish, whether aerosol, liquid or semi-solid, to a plate or piece of glass. By "generous" I mean enough to form a pool or clump on the plate. Leave the plate out on a counter, windowsill, or other place which is representative of the environment containing the furniture. Watch what happens and observe what remains (this may take minutes or months, depending on the material).
For example, if you apply enough aerosol "dusting agent" to the plate so that there is a pool of liquid from the aerosol, one of two things is likely to occur. If the material simply evaporates leaving behind no residue, it is possible that the use of this product may not harm the furniture. But still, there are a couple of things to consider. If it all evaporates, what are you paying for? The areosol "dusting agent" provides no function in cleaning or dusting furniture that cannot be accomplished by judicious use of a damp cloth. What if the aerosol is comprised of volatile organic solvents which quickly evaporate (a very likely possibility)? Even in that case, where no residue is left behind, the solvents may damage the finish on the object, even if the solvents are relatively benign. A mild organic solvent like mineral spirits (Stoddard's solvent, paint thinner, petroleum benzene) can remove wax coatings, which were used in past decades and centuries.
But what about the second instance where the polishing product applied to the plate does not quickly or completely evaporate? Now the problem is more complicated. What remains could be oils or other contaminants which adhere dirt and grime to the surface or attack the varnish. Or, the oils could polymerize and form an intractable coating which may degrade over time or react with other polishing materials in a deleterious manner. Remember the problems with polishing oils which were listed above.
While the amount of material put in the plate may exceed the normal application in polishing an object, the phenomenon observed in the plate is different only in degree, not in kind. As you watch polishes become gooey, yellow, rubbery, filthy, or whatever, consider the furniture. What is happening in the plate is merely an exaggeration of what is happening on the furniture. Over time, continued use of the product, even if used sparingly, can lead to the same effect becoming manifest on the furniture.
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