Wood Forum
The wood forum is dedicated to tips for caring for wood furniture and serves as a on-going reference to many of your commonly asked questions. Our current general advice topic is:

Oiling Your Furniture
Oiling your furniture once a year, or twice if it gets heavy use, will keep it looking beautiful and help it last longer.

Items you need:

• drop cloth or plastic
• 180 or 220 sandpaper
• sanding block
• clean white rag (like an old sock)
• absorbent white paper towels
• oil (40% boiled linseed oil mixed with 60% turpentine)
• 000 steel wool
• another clean white rag
• steam iron

Note: The oil mixture will stain clothing, carpeting, etc. Please use care when mixing or applying oil.

To Begin
Place item to be refinished on drop cloth or plastic. (Procedure can be done outside also.) Don't forget to put in the table leaves.

Fixing Scratches
If the piece has no scratches or dings to remove, skip this section. If you have scratches, begin by sanding the area. If the scratch does not come up with sanding, preheat iron to highest setting. Put some water in a bowl and wet a clean rag. Place the wet rag over the spot and apply the iron. (The idea is to force water into the wood and pop the scratch back out.) Keep rewetting the rag and steaming the spot. When it looks like the spot has pushed out far enough, try sanding to smooth the area. You may steam the spot more if it hasn't come out far enough, or you may continue to the next step.

Sanding
The surface of the piece now needs to be sanded with the grain. If the sandpaper turns white, then your piece has a lacquer which only requires a light amount of oil. If the sandpaper turns dark or black, then either you haven't oiled the piece in forever (shame on you) or the piece is exposed to a high amount of oils and grease in the air (like in a kitchen). It may require some heavy muscle to get all this excess build up off the furniture. Don't forget to sand the legs and back (if finished) and inside of the piece.

Oiling
(You may wish to use gloves to protect your hands during the next few steps.) Place a small amount of oil mixture on the second clean white rag, then rub this over the furniture. Make sure there is a even coat over the entire piece. If the furniture is very dry it may require more but be somewhat frugal since you will have to buff it all out. You don't need the piece to sit for any lenght of time. When you finish applying the oil, you may begin buffing the piece.

Buffing (steel wool)
This part of the procedure will help smooth the wood and help the oil soak into the furniture. Unroll a piece of steel wool anf fold it to fit your hand. With the grain, rub the steel wool hard over the surface of the piece. Don't forget sides and legs.

Buffing (paper towel)
After rubbing the piece with steel wool, you want to buff off any remaining oil. Use the paper towel to rub the surface areas and absorb any excess oil. Wash your hands and then touch the surface. If you feel an oily spot, buff again with the paper towel. Your furniture should look and smell like new.

Reminders
Let the piece sit for a day or two before putting any porous material (like books, papers or placemats), since they may absorb excess oil out of the piece.

Caution
The oil on the cloth, steel wool and paper towels is combustible. Keep away from heat or open flame. Dispose of responsibly.