How should I refinish a quarter sawn tiger stripe oak dresser?

[THINGUM]

sure looks like quarter sawn oak. oak is an open grain wood (has little pores or like checkered pock marks) maple is closed grain so the entire surface is perfectly smooth. is it veneer (plywood w/high quality top layer) or solid lumber? Hint-- look at an exposed edge. tung oil is wonderful, and properly applied, it will give you superior results. DANGER!!!! DO NOT EVER ALLOW PLEDGE OR ANY OTHER SILICONE BASED POLISH NEAR OIL FINISHED WOOD. It will cause FISHEYE in the future and CANNOT EVER BE OVERCOME.

 

[justbugged]

Quote:
That would be the easiest for me to do. We used tong oil finish on the Stair way to heaven.

We made this to keep the Nasty Little dogs, and one very Big dog out of the cat food.

 

[justbugged]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I talked to my FiL aka Papa and he said that I would be the happiest with the Tung oil finish. That works for me, because it is the simplest method as far as I can tell. Now I just need to move it from the garage into the house and get busy with the finish. I also have all the hardware for the dresser. I am going to put the flat screen TV on top of the dresser when I am done. That TV lives in the Kitchen/Family room area. I think I am going to store my table linens in the bottom drawers. I also have all the hardware for the dresser.

 

[crtrlovr]

I stripped an antique wardrobe (including all the drawers) inside & out, and did a linseed oil rub on the whole thing. I didn't re-stain it, because the wood was still very dark after the original (and highly damaged!) finish was removed. It came out looking very nice, and I didn't seal it with anything else. Should I have done so? (not meaning to hijack, but just wondering since the OP was asking about what type of final coat/finish to use...)

 

[EweSheep]

Ive got an old French Prov. white dresser that I wanted to paint over...tacky design and gold handles, bleck! I think the top is veneer however the rest of the body looks like pure wood, no particle boards, good solid dresser!

I would love to "dress" that baby up!

 

[justbugged]

From the little bit I know about oil finishes. I don't think that you need any sealer on a oil finish. I would check out about using a beeswax or lemon oil to keep the finish looking it's best. I normally use Howard Feed-n-Wax on my furniture. I have a lot of teak furnishings, and a spinning wheel that I keep up with the Howard wax. The product is bees wax and orange oil.

 

[justbugged]

Quote:
It sounds like you have one of the older French Prov. dresser. The newer ones have a baked on finish that would be extremely difficult to do anything with. I loved that style of girls bedroom set as a kid. I even bought a set for my DD when she was little. I don't remember her caring about it as much as I did.

I do remember looking through the Sears catalog and

over the canopy beds, and matching dressers and nightstands. I hadn't thought about the Sears catalog for many years.

 

[card5640]

Tung will darken over time, I would do a golden oak stain on it, the yellows will really pop, I have 2 sideboards I did with golden oak. One is a 1/4 cut oak, the drawer fronts are lovely.

 

[NanaKat]

Quote:
Before you do anything...clean all surfaces with Murphy's soap. Let it dry.
Anything you do to an "old" piece that affects the original finish will de-valuate the antique.
Once the piece is clean, you will see if there is any residue from the original finish. If not. all you may need to do is apply the Howard Feed n Wax several times over the next week, buffing each coat after it is dry. Then once a week for four weeks and then when ever you dust.

The phrase "Less is More" is fitting for "refurbishing" a vintage piece of furniture.

 

[galanie]

No, you dont' need a sealer for a tung oil finish normally. If you are going to stain it though, a sealer FIRST is good so you can control the stain. Otherwise it will soak into the wood and might be hard to get the parts to match. I wouldn't stain it no matter what the difference in wood colors. But I love natural wood and old wood makes me swoon, I just love it. That is a beautiful dresser and were it mine I'd just use a good quality furniture wax and nothing else.

So far as preserving the value of an antique goes, giving it a good cleaning then simply waxing it would be the best route. Any stain/finish/stripping you do will devalue it. Especially the stain.