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Oak Panelling - Cleaning & Preserving


JoeC

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The first thing is to figure out what if anything has been applied before. Some things soak in, others form a coating, some do a bit of both.

 

Oils soak in. This means they do not leave a coating as such, although if you have a curing oil (such as tung or linseed, or concoctions based on them such as Danish Oil) it will build up a coating when the surface becomes saturated. Each layer is relatively thin.

 

At the other end of the scale you have a varnish. Varnishes do not soak in and form a clear coating. They can be vegetable (or animal) based, containing resins mixed with curing oils, or they can be modern synthetic polymers based on polyurethane or acrylic.

 

In between you have waxes. These also mostly form a protective layer over the surface which is relatively soft and wears away but is easily re-applied. Again, waxes can be naturally occurring, such as carnuba, or synthetic such as microcrystalline paraffin wax.

 

All the above fail eventually, in different ways. Some yellow and age, particularly if exposed to sunlight. Some are hard and brittle and will chip (adhesive failure) whereas others are softer and wear away from the top down (cohesive failure). None are particularly bad. Some are harder than others to apply something different over the top of - so for example it's fairly easy to apply varnish over a previously oiled surface as it will coat the top rather than soak in by design, but oil over varnish doesn't work as it won't soak in.

 

If it currently looks OK, I would be inclined to wipe it down with a rag damped (not wet) in clean water, then wipe dry. If the grain then sticks up a bit it wasn't treated with anything but that is highly unlikely. After that, wax is a good bet. Natural wax furniture polish will be fine. You could go with something coloured if you want to subtly darken the look (and it really is subtle) or neutral/clear if you don't. I prefer carnuba wax based polishes for durability. If you want no visual effect whatsoever then Renaissance wax will do it fine - this is a microcrystalline wax which is colourless and not particularly high sheen. In either case, apply thinly, allow to dry, buff off with a soft cloth, repeat as frequently/infrequently as you like.

 

Alec

 

 

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I wasn't going to make any suggestions as most of the points I might have made have already been made. As others have said, it depends on what is already on the oak, as not all finishes are compatible.  If you decided to back to bare wood, my suggestion for internal use would be Blackfriars Satin finish Polyeurethane, lightly sanding between coats.

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15 hours ago, David Mack said:

Link appears on my post and your quoting of it on my phone. Can you open the link? Click on "Old walnut veneered furniture".

I can see the link now. It does not appear my end on your original post but when I 'quote' your post the link appears. Thank you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our previous boat had oak panelled sides and roof which was sprayed with a clear lacquer. We found that a deposit would form over the surface, presumably from the stove, which we removed with sugar soap wipes. Whilst it always looked good closer inspection showed that in areas near the stove some of the veneer had lifted slightly. We rubbed bees wax into these to stop the wood drying out too much.

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9 hours ago, JoeC said:

@David Schweizer  Found out that the oak panelling is covered in Blakes Satin varnish. Does your above advice still apply?

 

Thanks

Joe

 

As far as I am aware Blakes is a spirit based polyeurethane varnish, so use the same or any other quality Polyeurethane varnish, just sand lightly before applying, and between coats.

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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