Furniture Polish - Yes or No?

[bdosborn]

I just finished my spring clean up of the Boxcar, I grabbed the lemon Pledge and gave all the cabinets and walls a good polish. Which raised a question in my mind, is lemon Pledge the way to go? The Boxcar is starting to show some age with some dings here and there but overall the finish is holding up great, much better than the teardrop. I used a water based poly for the Boxcar and spar urethane for the teardrop. What does everyone else do to clean up their cabinets and bring a little shine back?

Bruce

[48Rob]

Bruce,

It depends on your future plans for the interior wood.
Lemon pledge contains 2 different types of Silicone, which can make refinishing difficult.
http://www.whatsinsidescjohnson.com/en- ... clean.aspx

I use water and alcohol mixed together in a spray bottle as a glass, and general purpose cleaner, at home, and in the trailer.
If it ever needs to have the shine restored, I'd just recoat with varnish.
(we don't have any lacquer finished furniture that alcohol can eat into).

Rob

[nevadatear]

no, no I hear my father screaming in my ear. My father was a professional furniture refinisher and also manufacture roulette wheels for a long time. What he hated the most was trying to refinish something that had pledge or any other "polish" with silicone in it. You can't get the stuff off without sanding down to the bone (event then it is tough as it penetrates) and as it repeals everything, it also repeals a new finish and causes it to pit. If you ever plan to refinish, stay away from anything silicone.

[Lgboro]

I've used Watco Danish Oil Finish on my build hoping that I can just wipe on another coat when my interior is in need of a refresh. Used it on smaller projects over the years with good results. Time will tell.

[bdosborn]

Too late, the pledge is already on. I've got no problem sanding down to bare wood if I have to. There's got to be a different polish out there that doesn't have silicone in it, what do furniture refinishers use ( or what do there spouses use )?

Bruce

[nevadatear]

My dad swore by plain lemon oil polish. There is also a creme polish with no silicones in it. However, it is not sold in stores and I used up all that my dad gave me some time ago, so it is back to lemon oil for me.

[eamarquardt]

I used to work in a factory that made Pampers. It was well known that Pledge would evaporate and deposit itself everywhere. It worked fine where slippery was desired but caused havoc where things needed to stick.

Cheers,

Gus

[rebapuck]

Along these same lines. .... I have two vanities in my house that are, plainly, plastic. The ones with the moulded sink that looks like "marble".

I've heard you can use carnuba wax on them to spiff up the finish. Anyone tried this?

[Mukilteo]

I guess I lucked out because I bought Old English to oil the woodwork in my van last fall.
The woodwork looked like it hadn't been oiled in years.

[tearhead]

I echo that! I rarely use furniture polish--dusting is accomplished with a damp cloth. But when I need to deal with dings, I do use Old English, which comes in both a light wood and dark wood formulation. It's good for baseboards, in particular. I've also used it on paneling in a hallway in our church, and to camouflage scrapes and scratches on furniture.

[Oldragbaggers]

When I freshen up my wood furniture I give it a good cleaning and then rub on (with a lint free cloth) a light coat of tung oil.

[bdosborn]

I did a quick internet search and ended up here:

Professional Restorers International

I think I'll check for some minwax paste wax the next time I'm in Home Depot.
Bruce