1. Wipe it with a soft cloth
To clean your wooden furniture, use warm water and a mild dish soap. Wiping with water won’t harm it, be careful not to soak it. Use an old toothbrush for hard-to-get areas. Wipe the dirt off the surface with soft cloths or paper towels until they come up fairly clean. Then dry off any residual moisture with a soft cloth.
2. Protect the finish with soft paste wax
After cleaning well, the best way to protect the finish is to use good-quality soft paste wax. Apply a thin coat as directed on the label. Wait five minutes and buff lightly with a soft (shoe) brush or cloth. Wait for another 30 to 60 minutes and buff/brush again with a bit more vigour. You’ll see it’s beautiful shine return for many months to come.
3. Keep away from the harsh rays
Keep your furniture away from direct sunlight. The temperature of the summer sun coming through a window can go above Water Boiling point. It will cook fine finishes, fading and destroying them over time, that’ll cause the wood to dry out and shrink, leading to cracks. Use window coverings or tablecloths to prevent daily direct exposure of your furniture to the sun. If you leave objects such as candleholders or vases on an uncovered wood surface, rotate them regularly to prevent dark or light spots.
4. Use a humidifier to bring the moisture up
Don’t place your furniture near heating units or vents. Dry heat will cause the wood to dry and shrink, leaving cracks. Use a humidifier in the dry months to bring the moisture up.
5. Use shoe-polish or markers for quick fixes
For a quick-fix touch-up, use an appropriate shoe polish on scratches and chips, especially to make them less visible on the feet of furniture. Carefully using a matching-felt-tip marker first will hide it even better.
6. Take metal hardware off the furniture to polish and shine
When polishing metal hardware, take it off the furniture first. Take your time and make a note to remember what piece goes back where. Use a quality metal polish to get it shining again. Once it’s buffed, put it back on, being careful not to scratch the wood surfaces.
7. Polishes and oil cannot penetrate the protective finish
Wood isn’t hungry! You cannot feed furniture. No matter what the advertising says, wood cannot be fed or nourished or enriched with polishes or oils. Once it has a protective finish over it for beauty and protection, the wood is sealed. Polishes and oils do not penetrate it anyway.
8. Remove hazy spots with mild abrasive
There are several ways to remove the white hazy ring or spot that the hot coffee mug or hot pizza box made on your table. The least invasive way is to rub it with a mild abrasive, such as non-gel toothpaste mixed with baking soda or cooking oil mixed with ashes. You can rub it in a small spot with your finger or use a soft cloth on larger areas.
9. Place a soft screen to prevent the damage
Dusting upholstery can be accomplished by a vacuum cleaner. Place a soft screen on the surface to prevent any snagging or abrasion from the vacuum tip, and using a brush attachment, carefully vacuum the surface.
10. Paste waxes are ideal for wooden objects
By virtually any measure semisolid polishes are the least damaging to wooden objects. Provided the ingredients do not include undesirable contaminants like silicone or high concentrations of damaging organic solvents such as alcohol, xylene, or toluene, paste waxes are an excellent polish for the surfaces of most wooden objects.
