Manufacturer-specific finish question


kevinlgregory

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Hello, everyone! I inherited some furniture from my parents that I actually grew up with (it's a little older than me - about 50). It's Bryohill Premier Saga - china hutch, credenza & dining set. All are in pretty good shape but the table and chairs need work. Contrary to what I would have thought for early 60's Danish-inspired furniture, the table and chairs (walnut and/or walnut veneer) were finished with shellac. The last step of my thorough cleaning of the pieces was to take an alcohol rag to them, which almost immediately started to drag and stick. I would have they were lacquer or varnish.

 

Anyway....

 

Because I haven't actually started the restore/refinish process, I was able to rub enough shellac off a piece of one chair that clearly shows the wood is lighter than I would have thought. Does anyone have experience with this line of furniture? I'm wondering if the wood was actually stained before shellac was applied, if a dark shellac was used to acheive the color, or if perhaps the shellac was tinted (is such a thing possible or common)?

 

There are 2-3 spots where my father's skin oil has removed all the finished nearly to the bare wood, so rubbing in some tung oil likely would not help. the original finish is not deep or shiny like a French polish or a thick lacquer - it is more of a satin finish and there's no perceived "depth" to the top layer. I'm not overly concerned with retaining or duplicating the original finish. I just want the finished product to be the same color (or very close) to the original, without a high shine and able to repel liquids since it's a dining table.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

p.s. I'm just now getting started in the world of wood finishing - prompted by my newly-discovered love of midcentury modern furniture, thanks to mom & pop!

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Here are some pics of the table. It was very difficult to get decently lit shots without the flash glaring, so I hope these are enough to provide more information.
 
First there is a shot of each of the worn spots, followed by two versions of both together (one with and one without). There is one of the table without flash to get a good idea of the existing finish color. Next is a closeup of the larger spot, and then one of the chair where I took it down nearly to bare wood. Sorry it's got such a glare, but without flash you couldn't see anything. From what I can tell in that spot there's a bit of yellowing from the shellac and still some color down in the grain, but that's about it.
 

 

Basically, I'm looking to do one or both of two things - perhaps trying to just get some color back in to those spots so the table doesn't look really bad when it's not covered (that one's the maybe), before I (definitely) eventually refinish it to match the original color (but not necessarily the sheen).

 

Thanks everyone!

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Start taking out drawers and look at undersides of the cabinets. It will be obvious if it was sprayed with a stain or tinted finish.

 

The problem is the surface that's damaged is a veneer, and I have no idea what the rest of the table is. I did turn the table over to make sure all the screw were still tight, etc. and although it was dark, It didn't really look like much of anything, and not event the same color. I will take another look with that advice in mind, though.

 

Thanks!

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