Take old polish of furniture

[rmhoar]

Is there a simple way of removing old, built-up polish on wooden furniture without spending tons of money. My diningroom suite looks so tired, I need to do something to it urgently.

 

[masona]

Not sure what you have in your country but over here we have one of the brand called Ronseal and they also do repairing kits, e.g. strip down old varnish + wood dye + wax finish etc...

 

[flashbang]

Don't necessarily trust me on this, I think it depends on the type of polish on the wood and also the type of wood. ..... I removed polish from my pine table, using cellulose thinners. I bought this from a car paint supplier, in a 5 gallon drum. It's the poor quality stuff used for cleaning spray guns and brushes, rather than the expensive stuff used for thinning top coat paint.
Make sure you use it in a WELL ventilated area, or you'll be floating round the room.
Good luck
Flashbang.

 

[ChrisR]

It depends what you mean by "polish". Wax polish? French polish? is there a varnish underneath it all and do you want to remove that too?

 

[oilman]

Depends on the age of the furniture and the type of polish. If it's wax polish , then a coat of polish with a normal paste type spirit based polish should work. If it's looking tired because of a build up of verdegris from handling, then wiping over with a damp cloth and soft soap solution will help, then repolishing.

If the furniture is valuable, get some expert advice or you can seriously devalue it. Bear in mind old furniture has been polished regularly for hundreds of years.

Is it shellac polish? This is soluble in alcohol.