Is what true? Cheap balsamic vinegar does not get better by being stored in an opened bottle on a shelf..... I had a semi cheap ( not long aged but real balsamic, $15 a bottle not $60) mold after I opened it. But other vinegars keep well. The acid content is high enough to keep mold from growing...both opened and unopened. Here is a link that might be useful: About balsamic vinegar

For health benefits, you might want to try Chinese Black Vinegar. I generally buy it at a Japanese market, and so it is the Japanese version made from rice, but it has a very interesting flavor. It is low in sodium, and yet it can take the place of salt or soy sauce - not with exactly the same flavor, but with the same complexity of flavor as soy sauce. Sorry I don't know anything about making wine vinegar, but I thought you might be interested in black vinegar. You can drink it straight from a tiny shot glass, which I used to do for a while, hoping it would help with hypertension and cholesterol, but I stopped for some reason. Lars

Thanks so much. Still haven't picked up my new solvents but hope to do so today. It looks like the entire table is solid wood, and the top definitely is. All patina it has is bad so if I have to lose the cat bite marks, I'll be okay with it. :) The top could be cherry and I can't tell what the rest is. It's pretty when wet. Time to see if the Houzz photo posting gremlins are working today... This is the top. The finish has a more modern feel to it, like a durable plasticky coat of varnish or polyurethane. I haven't done anything to this yet. The top is less red than the photos suggest. It's almost that 60s "fruitwood" color. And the naked underside of the table top (it's one of those with a flip top swivel mechanism): The rest of it has this type of finish--they just don't seem the same. This is the base which I haven't messed with yet As you go up the legs out of the wear zone, the finish is more solid red and doesn't match the top well so I think maybe the top was redone. After removing some of the finish from the base and apron. White stuff. It disappears when you reapply alcohol and reappears when it dries. I think that I could get all the finish and white stuff off with alcohol but it would be a lot of work!

Thank you. It wasn't even that difficult, but my fingernails were dark gray until I soaked them. I just couldn't believe they were brushed nickel looking under the gold. I didn't even remember they made brushed nickel anything 40 years ago. They could be older than that. The best part is that I was able to use the original long screws. If I had bought new knobs, the 1" screws that came with the new knobs would have been useless to me. I would have spent more money on new screws. I still have three bathrooms to remodel...every nickel saved gets me more money to spend on the bathrooms.