Wood furniture is loved for its beautiful colors and patterns, offering at least a bit of connection with Mother Nature. Additionally, quality wooden furniture can last for generations with an almost unchanged appearance. The price for this beauty is regular maintenance needs.

General Care

There are few rules, which can be applied to all kinds of wood furniture. The most important one is simple – wood hates humidity. Therefore, don’t use wet cloths to clean wood surfaces; instead use a soft cloth or vacuum cleaner with small brush. Immediately clean and dry all spills. Try to avoid placing the furniture in a room where the humidity is too high, too low, or the temperature changes too often; similarly, placing your prized antique table next to a heater is not the best idea.

Another big enemy is sunlight. Direct exposure to sunlight can cause color fading. This process is slow, but almost irreversible. Conversely, quick damage can be had by hot objects, such as hot mugs, lights, or candles. Using wooden furniture daily necessitates keeping a set of placemats and cupholders nearby (ideally made of cork, since plastic or rubber mats can soften and damage finishing)—not only for under your cup of coffee, but also under vases or other hard objects which may scratch the surface.

Types of Finishes

More detailed care has is based on the type of finish on your furniture, since every kind reacts in a different way. Generally, there are three basic kinds of finishing – soft (oiled), hard (polyurethane, varnish, shellac or lacquer) or painted. While a painted finish can be easily recognized, the other two are trickier. Luckily, there is a simple test to help you:

Gently rub few drops of linseed oil onto the surface (choose a discreet spot). If it is absorbed into the surface, the surface is oiled. If not, continue the test with a drop of acetone. While polyurethane sheds acetone like water off wax, lacquer will dissolve in a few seconds. Varnishes and shellacs both turn sticky after about a minute. If you want to distinguish these last two finishes, use a few drops of alcohol—shellac will react much faster.

We will take a closer look at these finishes in the next article about wood furniture maintenance.