early devon interior finish

[wilkie]

I am refinishing an early devon interion, I've taken it right back to the wood (solid oak & veneer). Its quite light and I would like to return it to the rich orange brown. Any advise on what to use? I've tried light oak and medium oak stain but neither are right.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Harlequin]

I used Golden Oak stain from Mylands , then clear yacht varnish, Has faded a bit as it was done 6 years ago

http://www.mylands.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Mike F]

My view is just use clear varnish. I got one from Homebase which is milky white. I gave the units at least six thin coats, rubbing down with fine glalsspaper between early coats then wiping off. The finishing touch is to polish with beeswax.

I reckon the wood darkened with age not an original stain. May be wrong but my interior has drawn many positive comments over the years.

 

[BJ1]

One of the ex-Devon foremen told me years ago that all oak early Devon interiors were French polished in the Alexandria Works. You can tell if an interior has the original finish by rubbing an area with neat meths - if the french polish is still there it will melt a bit and come off on the cloth. I've just re-polished the Caravette interior in our 67 split using french polish - came up really well after lightly rubbing down the finish and then using some old-school french polishing techniques.

If you varnish over french polish the polyurethane may not stick very well, so if you are using synthetic varnishes you should really cut the original finish down to the wood before refinishing. Takes ages and is a bit mind-numbing but worth it to get a good finish.

 

[wilkie]

Thanks Guy's anybody got any other pointers?