That Lane piece is far too nice, but what I’m looking for is a hopelessly beat up piece of furniture that I can practice on.

What is it you want to practice? Using the Howard products?

I didn't look closely at the finish on the Lane chest. I wonder if it's an oil-based finish like my teak Scandinavian stuff. I'm tempted to try the Zinolin furniture oil/cream I use on everything else. It cleans and rehydrates the wood. Works really well.

I presented a plan to Mr wtg that involves getting rid of two cabinets from the dining room, moving a cabinet from the office down to the DR, and putting the Lane piece in the office. One piece in the door, two pieces out.

He may fall for it.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
What is it you want to practice? Using the Howard products?[woote]

I’m good with Howard products. They’re really straightforward. What I’d like to play with are toners, colorants and sealers, along with various stripping methods.

[quote]I didn't look closely at the finish on the Lane chest. I wonder if it's an oil-based finish like my teak Scandinavian stuff. I'm tempted to try the Zinolin furniture oil/cream I use on everything else. It cleans and rehydrates the wood. Works really well.

I’m not familiar with Zinolin, but your Scandinavian stuff was likely finished in oil. I used oil on the pianos and it was very nice once I stripped off the shellac. Only problem is that shellac is much easier to remove than lacquer, and oils require a very evenly colored substrate.

If that Lane piece is typical it’s finished in lacquer over stain. The veneer will likely be very thin. If you elect to sand it do so with care - probably by hand.

What Howard’s does is partially dissolve the lacquer and perhaps a bit of the stain. You can then wipe the original finish all over the entire piece and blend in the areas where the lacquer is thin/missing. It’s a fairly forgiving process and you’re not faced with trying to match stain colors and such. I used it on the Brutalist bedroom set and it worked very well. Mind not to rub too hard in any one spot - my nightstand has a light spot in it where I took up too much of the stain.

What I don’t know is what happens when you spray lacquer over the entire top, which is something I’d like to try. The worn areas might just disappear - hard to say. If it doesn’t work you can strip lacquer off fairly simply - maybe worth a try.

What I’ve done is strip the lacquer off of the entire top with the idea of lacquering the whole thing. I’ve not finished that yet -film at 11.

Ever used Tibet Almond Stick? I don't recall where I heard about it, but I bought a stick from Vermont Country Store years ago and it worked wonders on some furniture that had small scratches that were ugly but not bad enough to warrant refinishing. I actually thought that spot on the top of the Lane chest might look much better if I tried the TAS.

And speaking of MCM....I'm loving that you can buy new lamps that look like they could be period...a nice option if you can't find the real thing in a resale shop...

And yes, the teak stuff is definitely an oiled finish. I love it because it's so easy to care for.

I bought a small teak rolltop desk some years back. Someone had put a lacquer or varnish finish on it for who knows what reason. And they did an awful job, with missed spots, blobs, and run marks. I stripped the finish and put Zinolin on it and it looked perfect.

Their (not very good) site: http://zinolin.com/zinolin.php?ln=EN

Click on "Furniture Care Products", then "Discover Our Products", and then Furniture Oil.

Those lamps are cool! We have a pair of them in Mesa but they’re not ceramic - they’re cardboard. You would never know if you didn’t pick them up and they’re really, really, cheap. Built in USB ports!

Real mid century lamps were very tall because the end tables were very low. We pulled several out of the hoarder house - well known name - Marx something. They list for big money on first dibs but we couldn’t give them away.

As for the sticks, yes I’ve used them.

They work very well for nicks and scratches but I think the damaged areas on the Lane piece are too big to use them.

Marbro lamps.

https://www.etsy.com/market/marbro_lamps

The other brand to look for is Modeline. Spaceship designs, mostly wood. We pulled several out of the hoarder house and my parents had them too. They weren’t expensive -Sears sold them. Popular enough that you can still buy replacement shades.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
...I stripped the finish and put Zinolin on it and it looked perfect.

Their (not very good) site: http://zinolin.com/zinolin.php?ln=EN

Click on "Furniture Care Products", then "Discover Our Products", and then Furniture Oil.

WTG, where do you purchase the Zinolin products? I didn't see any purchasing information or links to retailers on their website.

Big Al

I used to buy it at Dania Furniture, which has a number of stores in my area. When I went to their site and searched for "Zinolin", the only result that came up is for Nordicare Furniture Oil. I checked a couple of other stores I've been to that carry Scandinavian furniture, one in Madison, WI and the other in Mount Pleasant, WI, and they all now carry Nordicare.

Nordicare's website confirms that Zinolin has been rebranded as Nordicare:

https://www.nordicarehome.com/brand/

The three stores I've been to and dealt with are:

Dania (shipping not included in price): https://daniafurniture.com/pro...care-furniture-oil-1

Hansen Interiors (free shipping and they carry two different bottle sizes - I think I'll order the larger bottle from them - I"m almost out): https://www.hanseninteriors.co...riant=42979112812736

Century House carries the Teak Oil rather than the Furniture Oil product. I've always used the latter, so I don't know anything about the former.

https://centuryhouseinc.com/product/danish-teak-oil/

And, as always, there's Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Nordica...l%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1

My bestest craigslist find. A solid teak trestle table. The top is more than an inch thick.



I'm a huge fan of teak. Does it show?

I went back to the ReStore to look at the chest again. I misread the price on my last visit Bastards raised the price a hundred bucks.

I took a much closer look and it is in very good condition. It does need a bit of TLC on the finish to make it look gorgeous.

I still think it's a pretty good deal, and would spring for it if I really had a good place to use it, but I don't so I've decided to take a pass on it. If it were the $65 I thought it was, I would have taken it home.

Steve - Mr wtg says we'd be happy to buy it and store it until you can come and pick it up....

Field report:

The Habitat store in CLE is huge! Fully 10x the size of any I’ve seen.

A few blond MCM triple dressers but no other MCM pieces, all too big for my garage right now and nothing of quality. All in really good shape and not particularly cheap. I’ll have to ask what they do with the crummy stuff.

I ended up buying a big bag of small stuff for $8, including 6 spring clamps @ .75 each and a raw oak 1x4x6 to practice on for $1. That piece of wood is some $20 at Home Depot.

Best deal in the place was the paint. It all has a “rECOlor” label on it and says it’s recycled. Lots of it and all marked with batch numbers so can make sure what you get is all the same. $10/gallon. Maybe not the best quality but when I get around to painting my garage I’ll give it a try.

This stuff.

Also a bargain we’re pallets of super high end carpet squares at $1 per square foot. I’m sure some of it retailed for more like $9 and it looks to be indestructible. Airport quality stuff. That may end up in my garage too.

i love midcentury modern. those are great finds! i just need the right style house to put them in.

an off-topic aside: i think we are about to throw in the towel on trying to find a house in missoula and will stay here a while, or at least until my mare is ready for retirement. we live in a 70s rambler that has economy finishes left over after a 90s remodel. after five years here, i might finally be ready to commit to changing the house's aesthetic--get rid of the popcorn ceilings, put up crown moulding, put real wood trim on the doors and replace the dark brown hollow-core doors with solid wood doors. I could go for some midcentury touches that would make a nice eames chair or one of those nice pieces wtg found fit in just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Field report:

The Habitat store in CLE is huge! Fully 10x the size of any I’ve seen.

A few blond MCM triple dressers but no other MCM pieces, all too big for my garage right now and nothing of quality. All in really good shape and not particularly cheap. I’ll have to ask what they do with the crummy stuff.

I ended up buying a big bag of small stuff for $8, including 6 spring clamps @ .75 each and a raw oak 1x4x6 to practice on for $1. That piece of wood is some $20 at Home Depot.

Best deal in the place was the paint. It all has a “rECOlor” label on it and says it’s recycled. Lots of it and all marked with batch numbers so can make sure what you get is all the same. $10/gallon. Maybe not the best quality but when I get around to painting my garage I’ll give it a try.

This stuff.

Also a bargain we’re pallets of super high end carpet squares at $1 per square foot. I’m sure some of it retailed for more like $9 and it looks to be indestructible. Airport quality stuff. That may end up in my garage too.

Very cool! I'll have to see if the stores near us have carpet squares.

I'll see your oak 1x4x6 and raise you some inch and a half thick maple butcher block, 3 feet by 3 feet:



Free. I scavenged it today from the guy who lives across the street from my friend. He's a retired architect and said it was what's left of their old kitchen table. Before that, it was a reference table in the offices of architects Perkins and Will, the designers of the First National Bank of Chicago.

The pieces need to be reglued; what you see in the pic above is actually four or five separate sections that have come apart. I have no clue what to do with it. Thinking about making a base for it to make a table and using it for who knows what.

I couldn't leave that beautiful maple on the garbage pile....if I don't use it, I'll put it on craigslist. It has to be worth something.

We used a couple of scrap pieces of butcher block like as open shelving between the cabinets in the kitchen in Mesa. We put cookbooks on it.

Very cool stuff.