What a fun project! I suggest you remove hardware to sand drawer fronts uniformly. To get scratches out, start with sandpaper with more grit (lower number) and progressively sand with finer grit. Are you wanting to keep the light color and then finish and seal it with a clear coat, or are you staining? Painting?

Hey JJ! Thanks for your answer :) Yea I took some of the hardware off the drawers earlier, definitely made the sanding easier. Most of the screws were so rusty they broke off inside the wood tho, so that's another problem I have created for myself haha.

I do want to keep the light colour, but not as light as the sanded wood. I want to get as close as possible to the original 'stain' of the piece.

Sorry, I got distracted and missed you saying you want to leave original color. It does look like a soft wood to me, so I myself might want to do a pretty protective finish on it. Surely, you will hear soon from folks who are master refinishers. Please post your finished restoration!

Yea it's very soft, I even slightly grazing it with my fingernails with scratch it. But thank you for your input either way, definitely excited to post the finished restoration once I know what I need to do :)

Hi Emma, no advice for you but wanted to say great find! That's a beautiful piece. Good luck and enjoy your project.

Hey Kathie, thanks! I'm super pleased with it! Just hope I didn't ruin it with my fledgling refinishing skills haha :)

Olive oil and vinegar? Did I read that correctly? If so, you're refinishing furniture not making a salad. Buy products designed for furniture. If you just want a clear finish "oil" finish, try Watco. It's easy to use but doesn't offer a lot of protection like most oil finishes.

Sanded the second row now.. there's still a difference between the oiled+sanded wood and the just sanded wood.. the oil has left a yellow stain on the top + top drawers. Real shame because the raw un-oiled wood is a gorgeous beige-y colour!

Hey Cilantro,

Wow thank you so much for your very in-depth explanation! I did realise right after I had used the olive oil that it was a BIG mistake. It's just what I had on hand and since all the shops were closed and I was excited to get started. I will look into eveything you've said. Seems like I have a few days of work ahead of me if I really want to perfect it :)

I was wondering, since you seem super knowledgeable, if you could tell me what type wood of wood it is? And if you have any idea what kind of type/colour old finish is ?

Thanks! :)

The wood appears to be pine. Its a beautiful piece. Take all the drawer pulls off, before doing any more. Leave them off until the piece is finished. You may have to drill out the broken screws, so you can re use the holes. Olive oil was a huge mistake, but, you already know that. It has now absorbed into the dry wood. You may never be able to get it all out.. Your best bet now, is to buy semi transparent oil wood stain, in the color you want. It is about all that will penetrate through the olive oil that has soaked in. Make sure you do a very good sanding. Once you are done, you can use poly for the top coat, in your choice of sheens. Make sure stain is completely dry... Use a couple coats of top coat. I would use 3.l Make sure it is dry between coats. Once totally dry, then reinstall your cleaned drawer hardware with new screws or bolts, what ever you will need. Refinishing furniture takes a lot of time. Dont try to hurry, and dont be impulsive like you were with the olive oil. If something isnt going right, take a break and think it through, before diving in and making another mistake. Good luck to you and please post a picture when finished. Oh and fix all the gouges etc before you stain. Wood filler does absorb stain differently than wood, so you may always see the patch, but, its still better than a big gouge on top.

I'm no expert on furniture, so my opinion isn't worth much. However, I have to say that I don't see the merit in this piece.

It's nice that it's real wood, unlike most modern furniture made of woodish waste products and glue, but it's not a high quality hardwood piece. All those knots! It looks like inexpensive utility grade furniture from the first half of the 20th century. It was probably painted originally.

I wouldn't waste my time on it, but I'm neither expert nor collector, so you should probably ignore me.

I think it looks terrific, beautifully proportioned, and authentic. Not everyone wants Chippendale or LouisXVI. My go-to finish for a lot of raw wood is pure tung oil (not "Tung Oil Finish," which has a lot of other components). Tung oil is a finish that is impossible to screw up. You take a rag and wipe on as much as the wood will absorb, let it sit for maybe 10 minutes, then buff. Give it a day and then repeat. It will just slightly darken the wood, and make it glow, and it dries to a hard finish with no brush marks or unnecessary shininess.

Thanks for the replies David and Kudzu!

I personally really like this piece because I'm an illustrator and all the drawers are perfect for keeping my pencils, paints and paper seperate yet easy to get to. I actually quite like the quality of the softwood, even tho it's not that durable. I don't think I would have gone all this way to sand it down and refinish it if I hadn't messed it up with the olive oil, but alas, I did so here we are. I just want to make it look uniform and have the colour be to my taste again.

@Kudzu I will look up the tung oil! Definitely sounds good :)

Agree w/ Kat that it's pine. Agree w/ David that it isn't a high quality piece.

But I like it a lot. My favorite pieces are pine--old primitive pieces. My favorite is an old chicken feed bin that is nailed together with old square nails. It's not quality; it's not valuable but I love it. Bought it at a farm auction years ago; everyone thought I was nutz for buying it. I love the ambered color of old slow-growth pine so I used a home brew varnish/ oil/ turpentine wipe-one finish. I like tung oil for a finish, too. Have used it for pine woodwork but mostly for old oak pieces.

I also like the look of raw pine like your piece and I would try to keep that raw look if possible. Variety is nice. You don't want all your wood furniture to be the same color or the same species. If you can get past the olive oil, then you can use the water based poly & keep a raw look. If not, you'll need to look at penetrating oil finishes like pure tung oil.

I had a fantastic old oak rocker that I was keeping in the garage until I got round to it. SO thought it was a bench for an old lawn mower engine. Yup, old motor oil soaked into it. Managed to save it with repeated cleaning w/ solvents, a lot of sanding & then used (I think) Minwax Antique Oil Finish. (Done in my early adventures into refinishing.) Turned out great and the finish held up until the rocker met an unfortunate demise.

The sandpaper will tell you if you've removed all the oil. Sand some unoiled wood; observe the bottom of your sander. Then sand some oily wood & you'll easily spot the difference in how the sanding dust clings to the paper.

Good luck. Come back & show us some pix along the way & after it's finished.

BTW, depending on where you live & how much risk you want to take, most home improvement stores are considered 'essential' and are open. Home Depot is, but reduced hours, closing at 6 pm.

Emma- This is what I was talking about:

https://www.amazon.com/Finish-Stain-Natural-Sealer-Types/dp/B07N7KZ3H5/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=tung+oil&qid=1585348557&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFDUzE5QTVWMlQxOTEmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwMDEyOTgzNlRMNVQ2NEQ3VEJBJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1NDUxMzMyUVQ5UEw1TE1GUlExJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

And Amazon will deliver if you don’t want to leave home :-)

Hey Cilantro!

The raw pine look is definitely starting to grow on me.. it just looks a bit weird with the other half being unsanded right now. But I definitely agree I love a good old piece of furniture with a story. I bought an antique single bed last week as well and I'm just so in love with the natural patina and how used it is. It does need some love too, but after kind of messing this up I think I will just let it be for now. I especially love this detail where you can see they added the extra wood so the bed can grow with the person :)

Anyway, back to my little frankenproject: I did notice while I was sanding that the sanding paper had a very weird texture to it, but that has gotten significantly less as I continued sanding. Definitely haven't gotten rid of all the oil yet, despite going through a LOT of paper.

Belgium has been in lockdown for about 2 weeks and home improvement stores are considered non-essential, so unfortunately I can't just go to the store. I might look into ordering online, but it's always difficult to make decisions.

I was also wondering what people's experience with wax is? White, dark and clear? I was thinking maybe a veeeery light white wax layer might also help with the natural look, protect and neutralize the yellow..

I like it! Would be great in my sewing room!

To clean off the oil residue use mineral spirits.

Be careful of highly flammable products, such as mineral spirits. Some of that stuff can is self combustible, catch on fire with out a heat source. Throw away rags used in a container with water/soak with water.....I can't remember just what products you have to be really careful with. I will see if I can find out just what.

's's's's

https://www.consumerreports.org/wood-stains/oily-paint-rags-can-spontaneously-combust/

Paint thinner (AKA mineral spirits) is flammable, but it won't cause spontaneous combustion. Like kerosene, it evaporates somewhat slowly, so rags soaked with it stay flammable for a while. Just keep them away from fire and heat.

The spontaneous combustion danger comes from drying oils such as linseed oil. Paint thinner evaporates, while linseed oil dries by oxidation. Oxidation at high speed is also known as fire!

So that's what you need to be concerned about.

I've read that some kinds of wood stain also contain drying oils. I'd guess that some kinds of waterproofing sealers would fall into this category too. I would hope that the can would have a warning on it. Too lazy to go downstairs and look, though. :)

I leave oily rags outdoors for a week or two, then put them in a metal trash can. Obviously you have to put them where kids and pets can't get to them while they dry.

Alright guys! I have placed an order for a lot more sanding paper and a clear water based top coat. The website says it might take up to 2 weeks for it to get delivered tho, so will be pausing this project for the time being. Going to head out to get some groceries now and score some white spirit while I'm so I can start getting rid of the olive-oil mess I made :)

You mentioned wax up above, please do not use that. You will have a more to deal with than you already have. Good luck, and its mineral spirit, not white spirit. To do it right, you need to think long and hard before you leap into doing something else to the piece.

Hey Cat, I managed to get some white spirit from the store. I looked it up before going, and white spirit is the name used in Europe for mineral spirits, according to google. Unless something different was meant by mineral spirit?

If it is the right product, how do I proceed? Rub it in with a rag in circular motions, let it sit, ..?

Thanks!

It looks like you can be pretty liberal with using mineral spirits. This guy's videos are really great, relaxing in a way also. This one shows him using mineral spirits, as he probably uses frequently.

https://youtu.be/f_NHiDu_gCA

Added: I suspect white spirits and mineral spirits are the same thing.

Thanks Izzy! Checking it out right now :D

Alright I used the white spirit and I'm amazed by the results so far! It really took that yellow tinge away and I feel like I'm getting close to having the wood completely stripped and towards it's natural light colour. I'm gonna let it rest for a bit now, maybe repeat the mineral spirit again tomorrow (there's only so much time in a day that I can stand the smell)

Fingers crossed my sanding paper arrives soon.

I've also bought a really nice water-based stain that is close to the original colour of the piece, so very happy about that. I like the natural pine, but I prefer a more aged look.

Emma-

What you should be using is odorless mineral spirits, which is a more highly distilled form of the smelly stuff you’re using. It costs a little more, but has hardly any smell.

White spirit/mineral spirits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit

I don't think that stuff will strip off any finish though. You have to either sand off or use a stripper to get old clear/top coat finish off.

I'll keep that in mind for next time! This was all the supermarket had in stock so I went for that over ordering it online and paying shipping + waiting a long time. :)

I'm assuming if I air out the room the piece is in for a few days the smell will eventually dissipate (or did a do a massive blunder here again... learning as we go haha)

The odor is annoying, but it won't harm you as long as you keep the room well ventilated. The solvent will eventually evaporate, and the residual odor will dissipate in time.

Emma-

Here is something you might want to read about exposure to these types of organic solvents: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/mineral-spirits-vs-paint-thinner/

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/mineral-spirits-vs-paint-thinner/

An interesting read, thank you Kudzu! Been learning a lot of new things the past few days. I didn't know there was such a big difference between the two, toxicity (and smell!) wise. I will definitely be opting for the mineral spirits next time. :)

Hi guys! Just a little update that I'm very happy about! The wood stain arrived today (the sanding paper and top coat haven't yet, but should by the end of this week).

I had just about enough sanding paper to really sand one of the drawers to perfection so I did a test on it with the stain... and the colour I picked is really close to the original! It's still a tiny bit more orangey, but overall I'm super pleased.

I took the pictures 20min after painting so I don't think it's completely settled yet, and it still needs that matte clear water based topcoat, so it's not the final colour/finish yet.

Just very happy I haven't ruined this piece and will be able to restore it to my liking :)

Sanded, new stain, original

(it looks more orange on the picture.. in real life it's almost indistinguisable)

Congratulations. Perfect color. Its all time consuming, but, what better time to tackle something like this, when we actually have the time to do so. I had a painting project that I worked on for a few days, but, it was small, and easy, so didnt take long to do. If I had known, we were all going to be spending our time at home for this long period of time, I would have bought, something, that took a very long time to do. I may dig out a jigsaw puzzle before too darn long.

Yea this is the perfect time consuming thing to keep my mind focused and away from reading the news too much. The jigsaw puzzle companies are having the best time right now I bet. All my friends are into puzzling now. And I'm just sanding away :p