Restoring old, dirty wood with soap

Sara Idenfors

 

 

When a wooden table has stood outdoors in all kinds of weather for many years, or has been forgotten in storage, it may look beyond saving—gray, greasy, stained, and deeply soiled. But with superfatting soap, hot water, and a little patience, it is often possible to bring the surface back to life. Here, we show step by step how we cleaned a heavily soiled table—and the result speaks for itself.

 

 

What you need



The starting point—this is how heavily soiled the table is to begin with

We have been entrusted with trying to rescue an old wooden table that had become heavily and deeply soiled over many years. You need:

 

 

 

Do this:

 

  1. 1. Wet the surface with hot water and plenty of superfatting soap.
  2. 2. Scrub in the direction of the wood grain
  3. 3. Leave the soap on the wood if the stains/dirt do not come off immediately
  4. 4. Wipe it down
  5. 5. To treat it, scrub or wipe with cold water and soap. Let it dry and repeat as needed. Each time this is repeated, the surface becomes softer and more pleasant.

 

 

A garage is useful if you cannot work outdoors. Note the floor!

 

Wipe away the dirt that rises to the surface and check whether you need to scrub the same area once more.

 

Change the water as needed, and remember that hot water is needed for deep cleaning; cold water is used for treatment.

 

This is what the white cloth looks like after the first scrubbing.

 

This is what the table looks like now—clean and nice, without the thick, greasy grime

 

Before and after



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