Wood paneling cleaner/polish

[TROUBLE]

Well, now that my winter project list is moving out of the salon, including but not limited to, new hardwood floors, stairs, ladders,new mirrors, curtains, upholstery, rugs ,furniture and flat screens, I want to clean all the interior wood with a cleaner/polish. Whats the best there is? I will post pictures of my projects after i clean up.

Thanks as always
Art

 

[Diver Down]

There are probably dozens of threads on this forum about wood cleaning, restoration, etc., with numerous very good tips and detailed explanations for DIY'rs. We've tried most of them (my wife would now be saying "what's this WE..."), but her favorite technique is: scrub surface with an orange cleaner from Dollar Tree, followed by Formby's cleaner, a light sanding, wipe down with denatured alcohol and a tack rag, and finally 3-4 coats of Formby's low gloss tung oil. I don't know that this approach is any better/worse than the others, but it works for us. FWIW, we have no affiliation or financial interest in Formby's or whatever company makes this product line.

 

[TROUBLE]

Thanks Diverdown but I am looking for something way less involved.
Art

 

[sgharford]

I posted similar question way back and some folks recommended Mineral Spirits. This stuff is worthless for cleaning wood so I thought I would play Thomas Edison and tell you what not to use. I recently did wood in kitchen and used Simple Green to clean which did a really great job. Like Diver Down said, sure there is better. Yachtsmanbill did something with Muriatic Acid in one of his epic post last year to clean wood that looked beyond repair with phenomenal results. Bill - would love to see you post that formula again as I missed it in original 1600+ post of that thread. I miss those epic threads by way Bill and Ppat.

I followed up with tung oil to, used Min-Wax brand. 1 Quart will do your whole interior with 2 coats for about $12. Heard some folks mix in colored varnish to tung oil to get richer color with great results.

 

[TROUBLE]

There is nothing wrong with the wood, just dusty. I am really looking for a recomendation for a spray polish.ie: wipe on wipe off. its a lot of wood and i dont want to use anything that will require me to do it again.

Thanks
Art

 

[MikeP]

Pledge works very well but doesn't last long. The minwax tung oil (which is not actually tung oil) and a dollup of minwax red maghogany does a great job but is more work.

 

[TROUBLE]

Mike,
Is the min wax red mahogany a stain that your adding to the tung oil?
Art

 

[MikeP]

Yes. I usually pour maybe 2 OZ of the minwax tung oil in a plastic cup then add around 1/4 teaspoon of minwix red mahogany stain to that. The proportions are not at all critical but you just want a bit of color to "refresh" the appearance. Then you just wipe it onto the wood with a small rag, let it set for a couple of minutes and wipe it down with a soft cloth. The beauty of this treatment is that it is fairly long lasting, easy to do and you can add gloss if you want by adding suceeding coats.

If there is a lot of gunk on the wood from years of dirt or whatever, the wood should be wiped down first with some sort of cleaner to get the grunge off.

 

[TROUBLE]

Mike,
It appears the PO put some sort of clear finish (Maybe varnish) on the wood. With this already there will the minwax still make sense?
Art

 

[tom5518]

Back in the day, the factory would recommend Guardsman products for the paneling.

http://www.guardsman.com/

 

[MikeP]

If there is varnish than no - I don't think the minwax would be helpful. Wiping with some furniture cleaning product and Pledge is what I'd do.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

I posted similar question way back and some folks recommended Mineral Spirits. This stuff is worthless for cleaning wood so I thought I would play Thomas Edison and tell you what not to use. I recently did wood in kitchen and used Simple Green to clean which did a really great job. Like Diver Down said, sure there is better. Yachtsmanbill did something with Muriatic Acid in one of his epic post last year to clean wood that looked beyond repair with phenomenal results. Bill - would love to see you post that formula again as I missed it in original 1600+ post of that thread. I miss those epic threads by way Bill and Ppat.

I followed up with tung oil to, used Min-Wax brand. 1 Quart will do your whole interior with 2 coats for about $12. Heard some folks mix in colored varnish to tung oil to get richer color with great results.

Thanks for the memories!! Those mega threds were kinda fun werent they?? The wood on mine was totally stained black from seawater and oil. NOTHING would touch the stuff except for the muriatic acid. It was a pain ITA but looking back, I dont regret it! This guys wood sound pretty dirty. I'll clue some of the expurts in on a little secret... the oil finish when old and dirty gets gummy. Clean all you want, but I would do an aggressive cleaning with acetone and a soft brush with the grain. After its clean do your oil thing or whatever...
Ahhh !! The BIG CHILL, CANT TAKE THE STRAIN, WINDING UP FOR THE BIG FREEZE, and DEFROST SLOWLY... those were the days!

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Our interior teak is in good shape as it sounds like yours is also. I use Starbright Teak Oil from Worst Marine. I use a rag and pour some of this liquid on the rag. Now just wipe aggressively with the grain. You can wipe over it with a dry towel if you think you put too much on. The time consumer on this job is moving all the furniture and crap away from the teak pannelling. Sam's Marine sells a special product that the Hatteras factory uses. I have heard really good reports about how that oil takes out water stains.

 

[bobk]

Mike,
It appears the PO put some sort of clear finish (Maybe varnish) on the wood. With this already there will the minwax still make sense?
Art

I would NOT use Pledge or any other furniture 'polish'. If the surface is real dirty (mine had years of hand oils and soot embedded) clean first with alcohol and 'finish' with lemon oil. Don't expect to buy it at the Home Depo etc. You will need to go to a furniture finish supplier. The real deal is a concentrate that you mix with odorless spirits and apply with a damp terry cloth, let it sit a while and wipe dry. This provides a hard finish that doesn't easily show fingerprints unlike the Pledge type stuff.

Bob

PS, don't forget to ventillate the spaces.