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Cleaning varnished wood shutters

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)

15 years ago

Boy, that thread on cleaning wood blinds got my attention! What I need to clean are wood shutters in my kitchen near the stove. So the dust is glued on with grease. They have moveable louvers fastened into a solid framework. On the louvers themselves there is not even a solid inch of uninterrupted surface. Not to mention but when we got them, they were unfinished. They were too hard to sand smooth on the louvers, which were rough in spots, so I stained and varnished without sanding, resulting in billions of teeny sharp nubbins.

We canÂt remove them, theyÂd be too hard to get balanced again. The only thing I can think of using is a toothbrush with dishsoap! Apart from how to tackle the texture without shredding the tools, I donÂt know what is safe for greasy varnished wood.

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Comments (3)

Janice
15 years ago
linnea, I have four windows worth of stained and varnished shutters and I remove them by the pins
in the hinges, leaving two together each and I take them to my shower, which has a hand-held sprayer
and I clean them there! If you use a degreaser and a brush and hot water, they should be better!

Be sure to dry them off, as much as you can and let them stand in the sun outside, if possible before putting
them back up!

Sometimes I use an icepick or a nail to push the pins up so I can pull them out. Then, when I put them back together,
I dip the pins in vaseline to make it easier to remove them next time!

Hope this helps!!

Janice
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
14 years ago
I have my shutters removedÂbut what would be a good cleaner to use? What is safe for varnished wood? I have read (somewhere) that MurphyÂ Oil Soap was actually not good for wood. (Puts a greasy coating on or somethingÂ)
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I've bought pieces in the past that were an absolute mess. Try using Ivory dish soap and water in a mild solution. Sometimes a terrycloth rag has just enough oomph to scrub the grunge without damaging the finish. Dry the chairs immediately after rinsing. If that doesn't work, move to *gasp* Murphy's Oil Soap. In some cases, it's the only thing that will remove the yuck. Howard's makes a good soap as well that is formulated for wood and fabric. I found it in one of my local antique shops. All of that said, the finish could be compromised. Do you know what sort of finish is on the chairs? Some yuck, especially organic based, will eat away at certain finishes. The grayish/whitish spots that show up when wet indicate that may have happened. It could be the finish itself that's sticky. There's not much you can do about that short of removing the finish and starting over. I hope for your sake that's not the case.
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i have wooden shutters throughout the entire house; they are 4" wide, which makes it easier (less slats to clean)! i love the look but they are a lot of extra work to keep clean! i use a duster every week on them; when they start getting bad, i use murphy's oil soap, just a few drops in hot water, and wring out the rag real good and wipe down. it takes me two mornings but they look so good.
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There is no easy solution. You can try to keep as much of the sand as possible from entering your house (e.g., mats at all entryways), and try to pick up as much as you can with filtration systems, but the stuff is still going to be there. For cleaning dust around windows, I prefer using a vacuum cleaner and the round brush attachment. The ideal solution would be a whole house vacuum sytem. With a whole house system, you move from room to room with the hose and wand, switching between the floor attachment and the round brush for the blinds and window sills. You can do the same with a canister vacuum. One thing that will make the work go faster is not placing furniture in front of the windows. If you have to move anything so that you can get to the window to clean it, you have added significantly to the time you spend cleaning.
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kswl, shutters are not easy to paint, whether you brush or spray, there's always the chance of drips on the opposite side you're working on and you won't see until it's too late. That was not my reason for keeping them that way though. I just happen to like white shutters. As for the door, whether it is stained or not it will pretty much look like a black hole at night. All our wood work is stained, including doors. We have two sets of french doors in the Gentleman's Parlor, one set in the Sunroom and one in the basement. Our front entry door is full-glass with full glass sidelights. If the WTs are not closed/pulled down, they all look like black holes at night. There's no getting around that unless you cover them with some sort of WT.
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triciae
14 years ago
Hi, I don't normally post to this forum but I can help you with your shutter cleaning...

Go to a West Marine (or their website) & get a teak cleaner. Boaters continually have to clean greasy wood. Starbrite makes good products.

Happy scrubbing!

/tricia

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