There are several ways to remove white spots, such as those left by wet drinking glasses. You can rub them with toothpaste on a damp cloth. (Tiy this on other surface stains, too.) Or rub them with paste furniture polish, any mild abrasive, or oil. Appropriate abrasives are ashes, salt, soda, or pumice, suitable oils are olive oil, petroleum jelly, cooking oil, or lemon-oil furniture polish.
You can tighten a loose furniture leg caster by wrapping a rubber band around its stem and reinserting it. When wood fibers in a piece of furniture are merely bent, but not cut, straighten out any dents with an iron, set on medium, and a damp cloth. Place the damp cloth on a dent, hold the iron on it until the cloth begins to dry, redampen the cloth, and repeat the process as needed.
Tighten a cabinet or dresser knob by dipping its screw or screws in fingernail polish or shellac and reinserting the knob. When the polish or shellac hardens, the screws will be set and the knobs will be tight. It's best to position a piano where the sun won't shine on it and where it's least likely to be exposed to changes in temperature or humidity. You can unstick wooden drawers by rubbing contact surfaces with a bar of soap or a candle. A coat of wax prevents rusting on chrome kitchen chairs.
Paper stuck to a polished table can be lifted after saturating the paper with cooking oil.
Decals will easily lift off painted furniture if you sponge with vinegar. To tighten wobbly wicker furniture, wash it outdoors with hot soapy water, rinse it with a hose, and let it air dry. The wood and cane will shrink and tighten. Saggy wicker or cane seats can be similarly tightened by sponging them with hot water.
Sometimes a warped table leaf or other board can be straightened by exposure to wet grass and hot summer sun. For this treatment, water a grassy area thoroughly and set the board, concave side down, on the wet grass. As the dry side of the board absorbs moisture from the grass, the moist (convex) side is dried out by the sun and the board unwarps. This process takes no longer than a day. You can usually rub cigarette burns out of wooden furniture with very fine sandpaper or steel wool. Then, if necessary, color the area with shoe polish to match the rest of the surface.
If you need to pound apart sections of a chair that needs regluing, a soft mallet will provide enough power but will be much kinder to the wood than a hammer. When disassembling a piece of furniture for repair, label or number the parts with pieces of masking tape so you'll know how to put them together again. Make a list describing which part of the piece of furniture each number represents. For example, number 10 top right-side rung (as you're facing the chair).
Thread can serve as packing around a chair rung before it is reglued. Instead of straining your back when rear-ranging a heavy piece of furniture, simply position a child's roller skate or skateboard under each end, and then wheel the piece to its new location. If a loose cane on a rattan chair is snagging your clothing or stockings, tame it with clear tape, or blunt it by dabbing on clear nail polish.
Always remember to tape the drawers shut before moving a piece of furniture and remember to remove the tape quickly, too, otherwise it will leave marks. If your home has central heating, turn it off before starting to varnish a piece of furniture. This will help to keep dust from circulating and settling on the wet varnish. Don't let the temperature drop below 70°, however, because varnishes (or glues) don't work well in a cool environment. Remember that your work space should be well ventilated.
When using paint stripper on a piece of furniture that has legs, put a tin can under each leg to catch drips. This protects the floor and lets you reuse the stripper that collects in the cans. Use a tourniquet to hold a freshly glued chair rung firmly in place. Clamp the glued rung with a heavy cord wrapped around the chair legs. Use a dowel to twist the cord until the proper tension is reached, then prop the dowel to maintain pressure. If a chair wobbles because one leg is shorter than the others, steady the chair by forming an appropriately shaped piece of wood putty to "extend'' the short leg. When the putty dries, sand and stain it to match the leg and glue it in place.
When gluing dowels, a dowel that's exactly the size of the hole it fits into can push much of the glue to the bottom of the hole and therefore not hold as well as it should. To avoid this, cut a few grooves in the dowel so the glue is distributed along its surface for a more secure bond. It's a practical idea to use newspaper to protect your floor or workbench when you're refinishing a piece of furniture, but the legs may stick to the paper. To avoid this, drive a nail part of the way into the bottom of each leg. When you re working with varnish, hold the container as still as possible so that bubbles don't form and spoil the smooth finish.
You can tighten a loose furniture leg caster by wrapping a rubber band around its stem and reinserting it. When wood fibers in a piece of furniture are merely bent, but not cut, straighten out any dents with an iron, set on medium, and a damp cloth. Place the damp cloth on a dent, hold the iron on it until the cloth begins to dry, redampen the cloth, and repeat the process as needed.
Tighten a cabinet or dresser knob by dipping its screw or screws in fingernail polish or shellac and reinserting the knob. When the polish or shellac hardens, the screws will be set and the knobs will be tight. It's best to position a piano where the sun won't shine on it and where it's least likely to be exposed to changes in temperature or humidity. You can unstick wooden drawers by rubbing contact surfaces with a bar of soap or a candle. A coat of wax prevents rusting on chrome kitchen chairs.
Paper stuck to a polished table can be lifted after saturating the paper with cooking oil.
Decals will easily lift off painted furniture if you sponge with vinegar. To tighten wobbly wicker furniture, wash it outdoors with hot soapy water, rinse it with a hose, and let it air dry. The wood and cane will shrink and tighten. Saggy wicker or cane seats can be similarly tightened by sponging them with hot water.
Sometimes a warped table leaf or other board can be straightened by exposure to wet grass and hot summer sun. For this treatment, water a grassy area thoroughly and set the board, concave side down, on the wet grass. As the dry side of the board absorbs moisture from the grass, the moist (convex) side is dried out by the sun and the board unwarps. This process takes no longer than a day. You can usually rub cigarette burns out of wooden furniture with very fine sandpaper or steel wool. Then, if necessary, color the area with shoe polish to match the rest of the surface.
If you need to pound apart sections of a chair that needs regluing, a soft mallet will provide enough power but will be much kinder to the wood than a hammer. When disassembling a piece of furniture for repair, label or number the parts with pieces of masking tape so you'll know how to put them together again. Make a list describing which part of the piece of furniture each number represents. For example, number 10 top right-side rung (as you're facing the chair).
Thread can serve as packing around a chair rung before it is reglued. Instead of straining your back when rear-ranging a heavy piece of furniture, simply position a child's roller skate or skateboard under each end, and then wheel the piece to its new location. If a loose cane on a rattan chair is snagging your clothing or stockings, tame it with clear tape, or blunt it by dabbing on clear nail polish.
Always remember to tape the drawers shut before moving a piece of furniture and remember to remove the tape quickly, too, otherwise it will leave marks. If your home has central heating, turn it off before starting to varnish a piece of furniture. This will help to keep dust from circulating and settling on the wet varnish. Don't let the temperature drop below 70°, however, because varnishes (or glues) don't work well in a cool environment. Remember that your work space should be well ventilated.
When using paint stripper on a piece of furniture that has legs, put a tin can under each leg to catch drips. This protects the floor and lets you reuse the stripper that collects in the cans. Use a tourniquet to hold a freshly glued chair rung firmly in place. Clamp the glued rung with a heavy cord wrapped around the chair legs. Use a dowel to twist the cord until the proper tension is reached, then prop the dowel to maintain pressure. If a chair wobbles because one leg is shorter than the others, steady the chair by forming an appropriately shaped piece of wood putty to "extend'' the short leg. When the putty dries, sand and stain it to match the leg and glue it in place.
When gluing dowels, a dowel that's exactly the size of the hole it fits into can push much of the glue to the bottom of the hole and therefore not hold as well as it should. To avoid this, cut a few grooves in the dowel so the glue is distributed along its surface for a more secure bond. It's a practical idea to use newspaper to protect your floor or workbench when you're refinishing a piece of furniture, but the legs may stick to the paper. To avoid this, drive a nail part of the way into the bottom of each leg. When you re working with varnish, hold the container as still as possible so that bubbles don't form and spoil the smooth finish.
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