The old style polish of beeswax, turpentine and linseed oil will blacken with age. Clean it carefully ... Dust it, then use mild soap and water on a soft cloth to remove water-soluble crud. Then shift to mineral spirits and 0000 steel wool, cleaning gently to get the oil-based hand grime and such off. If you have a flaky, scaly finish, that's probably old wax buildup. Remove it with a blend of lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol (I use 50/50). Apply liberally to a small area, let it soften a few moments, then gently rub off the crud with the steel wool. Repeat until clean. Do this outside, with gloves because the fumes are vile and flammable. This picture shows what removing the decades of old polish and wax can do - It went from black to walnut in about an hour.

How long did it look good? I have a table waiting to be refinished and a dresser in a guest room waiting to be downsized away. They both looked good for about 3-4 weeks after treatment. If this is in your own home and you're willing to keep buying the product and repeat monthly, OK, but I'm doing this professionally and don't want all my customers calling back after 3 weeks saying it doesn't look good any more. Plus, if you can infer from the above, I don't like manufacturers being less than forthright with their products, their product names, and their claims. Wood and finishes don't need nourished, re-hydrated, have their "essential oils" replaced, or fed. I know the components and if you tell me honestly what's in it, I'll know what it does, why, and when it does good and when it doesn't.

I've used it on several pieces (vintage mahogany such as your chair) and have always had fairly good results. The product does have it's limitations as it's used mostly to restore the existing finish and not to refinish so areas (such as deep scratches, water damage or crackling) where the finish has completely worn away will not be completely fixed. There is a fine line between rubbing in the finish so that it soaks in and rubbling so hard that you rub away the old finish so you do need to use care in areas where the original finish has worn away. I've heard and tried various methods of cleaning from the Murphy Oil Soap, Dawn dish soap and mineral spirits. My last two projects, I was lazy and did not clean at all since I've heard that RAF has agents that clean as well. I also use the 0000 steel wool to apply the RAF before wiping off with the lint free rag. I often tear up an old bedsheet or T-shirt for my rags. I will start that way and then often will repeat 2-3 times as needed, sometimes allowing it to sit 5-10 mins. before wiping away. I also use the Feed 'n Wax product as it protects the restored finish from water stains, etc. Often my results while much improved over the original, are imperfect, at the same time much better than the alternative of refinishing which can damage the value of a piece and you loose the patina of age. One of the things that appeals to me about antique/vintage furniture are some the "character" marks which go with an old piece with an original finish. If you are still dissatisfied, you may also want to try one of the colored wax crayons that you can find in the varnish section of your hardware store--which are used to fill in nicks and gouges. Here are the end tables I recently restored. Before: After (including the Feed 'n Wax): My dining room chairs I did a few years ago and they did not come out so well as the nightstands. There were some areas on the upper backs of the chairs which were probably handled a lot over the years, probably had greasy buildup and were cleaned so hard the finish had partially worn away. Or perhaps it was some UV damage? Whatever the reasons, these areas also didn't restore so well and are lighter as a result. It was with these areas I realized that if I rubbed too hard, I only worsened the problem as I would rub whatever was left of the existing finish away. I like to think of it as "character". Here are the leg sections. Before (you can see areas where finish has worn away--this I also had to be careful with not to buff too hard with the steel wool or I'd rub the finish right off): After:

gracie - i'm going to leak out my secret early.. i'm picking up the chair tonight!!!! :) :) almost embarrassed to mention that now since i made such a deal about this or that, not both. the vehicle repairs etc ended up not being near as much as we had anticipated. My b-day is coming up ... and DH was in a really good mood last night. He was just like,"why don't you see if they still have that chair you're drooling over and go get it" yay! I'm surprised it's not gone! so mahogany...