To polish or not to polish
Most furniture and wooden artifacts need only be kept dust-free. Do this with a microfiber cloth or barely water-dampened cotton cloth (such as t-shirt material). Be careful to not let the cloth catch on sharp edges or veneer that might be loose or lifting. Avoid using oils as they actually attract more dust. They attract more dust because they dry very slowly or never dry at all, giving airborne dust a place to accumulate and form a dust and oil mess. Manufacturers and others who claim that their oils, waxes and other concoctions nourish or feed wood are incorrect. Wood cannot be fed or moisturized. If their claims were true, then they would sell furniture diapers or other methods to clean up it as you would a pet. Furniture is not alive and therefore cannot be fed or nourished.
However, furniture can appear dry or ‘hungry’, but this is usually the result of either the surface being dirty or dusty or that the surface coating/varnish has started to degrade. If the surface is dirty or the surface coating/varnish has become dull, the careful and sparing application of paste wax with judicious buffing (to remove most of the wax) can increase the lustre/gloss of the piece. A proper paste wax for this purpose is a blend of waxes (usually beeswax and carnauba) that is dissolved or softened in a volatile solvent (such as mineral spirits or VM&P naphtha). Do not use a paste wax that contains oil for this purpose. (Paste waxes containing oils are used for raw wood finishing, NOT for maintaining extisting finishes.) For more on paste waxes click here.
In cases where the surface coating/varnish is degraded, wax may not improve the surface appearance. Yes, there are “finish revivers” but don’t be mislead by this marketing either. How can furniture be revived if it was never alive to begin with? OK, I admit that I’ve seen some nice results from people using revivers on degraded finishes, but I’ve also seen some disasters where the reviver has permanently stained the wood underneath the finish. Also, many revivers on the market contain oils that stay ‘oily’ and end up attracting more dust and dirt in the long run. Hire a professional who know how to assess and/or test the surface coating of your furniture before you apply something you might regret. It might sound like I’m trying to drum up more work for myself, but no. Actually I could make far more money by staying silent while folks apply the latest miracle potion and then be able to bill far more hours fixing the damage.
Lastly, remember that surface appearance is subjective, that is what is unpleasing to you might be pleasing to someone else. There really are no right or wrong answers when it comes to judging appearance so make up your own mind. It’s important to know what your chosen polish is made of and what it is doing to your furniture and its coating/finish/varnish. In order to begin familiarizing yourself with the array of furniture polishes on the market, I recommend reading this 2-page paper written by Don Williams, a former senior furniture conservator at the Smithsonian Institute.
