Restoring oak tables - flood damage - advice needed

[Selks]

Hi, I have a nice vintage gate leg light oak table (not worth much, but I like it) and two sixties Eames - style oak wood side tables that were unfortunately damaged in the house flood that I experienced two weeks ago.

All three items have had the varnish scoured off by the flood water for a height of around eight inches around the legs. In all other respects the items are fine.
The insurers do not want to pay for restoration due to the low value.

So I've decided to restore them myself.
Any advice on how to go about this would be greatly appreciated.

N.B. the flood water was run off water from the hills and although was muddy contained no sewage, so no health risks with keeping them as far as I can see.

Even though the water was run off from the hills, there is every chance it contained animal excrement.

What I would do is firstly wash with a solution of bleach and rinse off. Then strip all the remaining varnish. Then rather than re-varnishing I would use an oil to protect the oak.

Sounds like a good plan Tea, and doable; thanks.

how sure are you that it was varnish, and not wax, and not french polish?

Water raises the grain, once it is dry, sand smooth with a fine paper.

You can match the colour using Colron wood dye. You may have to mix different colours in a jamjar to get it right. You will need less than an eggcupful, it goes a long way. Start pale and go darker, it's easier than going the other way. The wax or varnish will deepen the colour. You can practice on an underpart that doesn't show.

The makers say apply with a barely damp rag, I use a barely-damp soft brush, but beware, you may apply too much. Rub it on and then rub with a clean rag to remove the excess. White spirit will help clean up, but it stains (that's what it's for)

Piglet, I'm not 100% sure it's varnish, but it looks like it. Pretty sure it's not wax - not sure about French polish - don't know how I'd know.
Sounds a bit scary about colour matching - that sounds like something that is easy to get wrong.
Many thanks for your post though, you obviously know your stuff. Very useful info.

french polish comes off with meths but not with white spirit; wax or oil comes off with white spirit (with its embedded dirt); varnish softens slowly and almost imperceptibly with white spirit.

Right; thank you, that's very helpful.

Am I better off taking the whole lot off, over the entire piece of furniture, then looking at the overall colour to see if any areas need correcting, correct if needed, then re-varnish/wax, or just doing the parts that were flood damaged and leave the rest as it is ( I suspect the former).

If you do the whole thing, you are into furniture restoration and it will be a lot more work. You will find it hard to do the top without an orbital sander.

It will no longer look like an antique or an old table. If you do a fantastic job it will look like a new table,if not it will looklike an old one tartedup.

I am very lazy so would do the minimum.

Can I ask you another question PigletJohn - I need to tape some paper labels to furniture in my house that I do not want the insurers to remove - what tape can I use on the aforementioned wooden bits of furniture that won't lift or damage the varnish/wax? Masking tape?

Thanks

no. even masking tape will stick.

You could try post-its

or tie on luggage labels

Thanks. Tie-on labels will work for some pieces, not others. Post-its might fall off.

Hmm. Will have to think about this...

Blu-tack?? Or could that leave grease marks?

There must be a way....how to antique sellers label their furniture?

Do, not to.

Years ago, my parents damaged an oak gate-legged table after a burst pipe had soaked a carpet. They put the carpet over the table to dry, and some of the top went a bit black.

My dm and I took the french polish off - used a small vegetable knife with a blade that was straight across the bottom and meths. Took a lot of elbow grease. Afterwards the table was polished instead. If your table has twisty legs, it will take a while to scrape off all the polish.

Good luck

Thanks Tb.

Or you could use Nitromors to strip the table back to the bare wood and then Danish Oil it?

I have a lovely little old oak gate-leg table with barley twist legs (sounds pretty similar to yours) that had a fairly dark varnish on it when I bought it. I think I picked it up for £6 in a second hand shop.

I stripped it down with Nitromors and wire wool and then applied Danish Oil all over to 'feed' the wood. It still looks like it is an old piece of furniture, which it is and that is why I love it, but it got rid of the awful varnish and allows the grain of the wood to show through.

If you use something like Nitromors, in the act of stripping the wood it also causes the grain to 'rise' slightly. Using Danish Oil or Beeswax allows the grain to 'smooth out' again, it nourishes the wood, but it doesn't add any colour to it and it also protects the wood.

Thanks Fieldette, will look into using Nitromors

You'll still have to sand it, which will be hard work.

Yes, I forgot to mention, you will still have to sand it, and it will be hard work, but if you love the table then I would have said it's worth it.

Personally I wouldn't want to pay somebody else to do it when I could it myself, it will just take a bit of elbow grease.

As my Dad would have said, 'if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing properly'!