But would mineral spirits take off the wood's finish? Not sure I've used those before, but it's worth a try if the finish doesn't get damaged. jannie, the layer of light gray gunk is very noticeable in the dark curls of the oak pieces. It looks as tho I haven't dusted in 50yrs., tried scratching it with my fingernail and the stuff won't budge. I'm wondering if I'm seeing it now because the room has been remodeled and there is more light in there now! ha. Just had a thought, in the past I've used Murphy's on a damp cloth once in a while to wipe the headboard down, suppose it ruined the finish? If that was the case, the rest of the headboard would be gray too tho. Thanks for the suggestions.

Do you mean pieces like this chair I'm working on? I'm in Maine, and I seldom see pieces like this. 'Course, I'm looking on Craigslist to buy them to re-do. But, I look for vintage pieces in small shops, and don't often see them here.

Some can be purchased from Outwater or Van Dykes. Most of those frames are likely cut to shape or fashioned from molded resin or MDF. Notice that almost all of the pieces have opaque finishes and not clear finish. My guess is whatever is underneath the finish is ugly material. The piece in the second picture looks like an exception. The curves are fairly gentle and are probably cut out of a larger piece of material. It's quite possible to bend large pieces of wood to severe curves but that's a time-consuming and expensive process for most people. Steam-bending was popular before the Second World War but you'll almost never find that technique used in modern factories. This post was edited by JAAune on Tue, Dec 23, 14 at 20:51

I can remember during the 70s when these were a popular souvenir from Mexico. They are just wall art, not anything intended to be functional, if it's carved from soapstone or onyx. The point was "how cool that they could carve it to be hinged like that."