Wood furniture is one of those possessions that can easily turn into a family heirloom for many generations to come if properly maintained and stored. And, with the holidays upon us, what better time to pull out those sometimes-stored pieces for the entertaining season? If this is your case, there are some maintenance habits that you should adopt for all your wood furniture whether you use it year-round or store it for long periods at a time. Here are a few tips for cleaning, maintaining, and storing your wood items for years of use.
Basic Wood Maintenance
Wood is an enduring material; however, elements and use will age and damage your valuable wood items if they are not regularly treated and maintained.
- Prevent Drying Out – Environmental temperatures and humidity or lack of greatly affect wood in general. To prevent your wood from drying out, it is important to regularly dust and oil wood furniture using a soft cloth and fine oil such as linseed or grapeseed oil. This replenishes your woods lost moisture without leaving a waxy build-up and is actually better for your wood than using wax polishes. This will also refresh your wood furniture’s rich color and deep grain appearance.
- Water Rings – Even with coasters a plenty sitting around, there always seems to be that one glass, plant, or water bottle that makes its way onto the bare wood table top. To remove water rings, simply use a hairdryer on a medium heat setting and gently blow at an angle over the damaged area until the spot begins to disappear. Follow-up with a good coating of furniture oil; let sit for 10 to 15 minutes and wipe off excess.
Nicks, Chips, and Scratches
Here are a few ideas as well as tips for fixing those mishaps that happen no matter how thoroughly you protect your furniture for moving or long-term storage.
- Moving and Storing – Making sure to use quilted moving blankets as well as wrapping exposed edges and surfaces with foam or bubble wrap will protect surfaces and edges from scratching, chipping, and superficial damage. However, before wrapping your wood, be sure to thoroughly dust and lightly oil all wood surfaces allowing them to absorb before attaching wrap. This will prevent dust and fine particles from damaging finishes. It is important to allow oils to absorb in order to prevent puddling or even mildew issues between the wood and plastic or foam.
- Nicks, Chips, Scratches – Minor nicks and chips can easily be filled in with a brown crayon and hairdryer. Simply use the appropriately colored crayon to fill in the gouge and follow-up with a few seconds of low heat from the hairdryer. Repeat with as many thin coats as it takes to fill in the nick. Let the wax harden between layers and completely cool before the last step of treating with wood oil.
Having fine wood furniture is a joy that takes a little elbow grease to keep it in tip-top condition. So, storing it should be taken as seriously as enjoying it. That’s why when you have wood furniture items to store you should call one of the helpful associates at Browning Park Mini Storage and let them help you with all your fine furniture moving and storage needs.