Properly maintaining your wood furniture is essential to prolonging its livelihood, and special measures should be taken when cleaning it. For this reason, I wanted to share some helpful tips for how to clean wood furniture.

These tips will help you care for your wood pieces. Source: Freedigitalphotos.net

First, take note as to if your furniture is oiled, painted, or polished as it will impact the way that you need to clean it. Once you make this determination, here is how you should approach the different finishes:

• Oiled Wood: To maintain the surface’s soft glow, you will need to occasionally apply furniture oil to keep it clean. It’s very important that you never wax an oil finish as it will ruin the wood. In the event that you get drink rings on oil-finish furniture, squirt a little toothpaste onto the wood surface and use a soft cloth to wipe it clean.
• Painted Wood: With this surface, less cleaning is better. Use a vacuum to remove crumbs and occasionally a sponge to wipe away smudges.
• Polished Wood: You can utilize a commercial polish for this type of finish to clean the surface. A paste wax is ideal for antique wood pieces, although I use a product called Howard’s Feed and Wax – a great item that works well.

To learn more, please contact Richard Oedel: Fine Furniture Master.