Restoring old dining chairs

[Windy*miller]

I've just bought some old dining chairs on ebay. They need restoring, but they only cost twenty quid including a table, so there's not a huge amount riding on the project.

I've no idea what the wood is, but they are reasonably dark and finished with a fairly shiny varnish. They don't have to be perfect so I'm wondering if there's any alternative to sanding them down completely, which would obviously be a lot of work given the curvy nature of the legs and backrests.

I've forgotten how to put photos in, so there's a link to one on flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7812576@N03/5416352436/

 

[yellowbelly]

Are you ok about the present colour of the chairs? If so get some WASHING SODA CRYSTALS dissolve a good handful in a bucket of hot water(as hot as you can stand) and wash them down with this using a soft scrubbing brush, this will remove the build up of grime,dirt and grease that will of built up over time and then see what you have and take it from there

 

[yetloh]

I would guess the finish could well be shellac which is easily restorable with more shellac after cleaning.

Jim

 

[Matt@]

I would guess the finish could well be shellac which is easily restorable with more shellac after cleaning.

Jim

unless they've been refinished in recent times they almost certainly won't be shellac as its a repro item and therefore likely to be sparay finished. Anyway, a way to test is rub some meths on the finish with a cloth and if the finish goes sticky and soft, it'll be shellac if not it'll be lacquer. Quick fix to freshen these up is wipe some dark oil stain over them and wipe off excess with kitchen towel (oil stains as in colron stains from B&Q wash brushes out in white spirit etc) then wax with a dark wax. Any other method is invasive and lottsa work....