Recommendations For Minimizing Scratches On Wood Furniture

[Tobermory]

One of the favorite pastimes of two of my cats is to tear through the house, either starting from or ending on my grandmother’s 100-year-old wooden chest. So I have this:

Any suggestions for how to minimize the appearance of scratches in antiques?

I do have a runner over it, btw, but their claws go right through it.

 

[DreamerRose]

Try Old English furniture polish. It has stain in it and will make the scratches disappear, but not the gouges. Use an old rag as it will as it will be stained, too. To keep the cats off the chest permanently, use Ssscat. Mine are so well trained now that they won't go anywhere they see the can.

I have dark woodwork and use Old English all over the house to cover up scratches.

 

[verna davies]

You could try gently sanding the surface, going with the grain of the wood then use a wax polish, using circular movements, leave for one hour and rub off. Something like this.

 

[DreamerRose]

Another thing you can try since you have light colored wood is an almond stick. It's not permanent, but lasts a long time, weeks. Almond sticks are hard to find; I found mine at the hardware store. The stick will also remove white water rings on furniture.

 

[Tobermory]

Thank you, DreamerRose and V verna davies ! I was rummaging through my cleaning supplies and discovered a bottle of Old English. I don’t remember buying it, but I’ll give it a try. If that doesn’t help, I’ll escalate my attack! The chest isn’t the only thing with scratches, but it’s the worst. It’s such a wonderful antique.

 

[Eva Fitz]

Hi you could try rubbing walnuts on the wood. I’ve tried it and it kinda works on some of the scratches put also makes the wood shiny.

 

[DreamerRose]

That's a beautiful old chest. It looks to me like it may be 150 years old.

 

[neely]

We have the same exact problem on some of our antique wooden furniture.
I found this link helpful and hope you do too:
Get Scratches Out of Wood | Practical DIY Advice

 

[Tobermory]

That's a beautiful old chest. It looks to me like it may be 150 years old.

It’s possible. My grandmother was born in the late 1800s, but I don’t know if it was in the family before that. Sadly, there’s no one left to ask.

 

[Tobermory]

We have the same exact problem on some of our antique wooden furniture.
I found this link helpful and hope you do too:
Get Scratches Out of Wood | Practical DIY Advice

Oh wow! Great ideas...and simple! Thank you!

 

[susanm9006]

With these kinds of old finishes you can usually partially dissolve the old finish which then fills in the scratches. Start with denatured alcohol and a piece of fine steel wool and rub gently and then wipe with a cloth. If that doesn’t work, then you can try a stripper made especially for fine furniture. Once you have blended the scratches use a wipe on poly to protect it.

 

[Tobermory]

With these kinds of old finishes you can usually partially dissolve the old finish which then fills in the scratches.

It probably has a significant build up of dirt acquired over the decades so there’s a lot to dissolve! It still has a strong cedar smell inside, though, and the wood is pristine.

 

[susanm9006]

It probably has a significant build up of dirt acquired over the decades so there’s a lot to dissolve! It still had a strong cedar smell inside, though, and the wood is pristine.
View attachment 294890

It’s beautiful. I just finished a 110 or so year old table. Deep gouges in the top and they filled in with stain in a second when I wiped the top. The alcohol will removed the dirt too.

 

[LittleShadow]

All of these ideas are wonderful. You might also try making or asking someone who sews to make you a padded cover for the chest. Either a full top and sides cover, or just a cushion type cover for the top with a thin strap that runs under the lid to keep it in place. I think something off white or tan, with small blue flowers (a little like the old flour sacks that were meant to be made into little girl's dresses after the flour was gone) might go nicely with the antique style.

Alternately, have you tried claw caps? Then your babies can continue to race everywhere, but with fewer claw marks.

 

[Tobermory]

All of these ideas are wonderful. You might also try making or asking someone who sews to make you a padded cover for the chest. Either a full top and sides cover, or just a cushion type cover for the top with a thin strap that runs under the lid to keep it in place. I think something off white or tan, with small blue flowers (a little like the old flour sacks that were meant to be made into little girl's dresses after the flour was gone) might go nicely with the antique style.

Alternately, have you tried claw caps? Then your babies can continue to race everywhere, but with fewer claw marks.

I do have some cushions I could use. I may explore that idea, too. Thanks! I’m currently using a cream-colored, woven runner (rug) on it, but their back claws are going right through it.

I might be able to put claw caps on the 15-year-old; I’ve had her since she was a kitten so she’s used to be handled—although she hates to have her feet touched. But I’ve had the other culprit only about a year and a half (she’s 5), and she was basically feral when I brought her home. She has very firm rules about how she will and will not be touched. (Mocha: “Touch the feet at your peril.” ) Being reduced to shreds with puncture wounds is not in my plans!

 

[LittleShadow]

Fair. My Molly is about as tame as you can get, but I've started taking her to the vet for her trims and caps because I get too stressed doing it. And her weird polydactyl claws are super hard to get to between her dewclaw/thumb and normal claws, and yeah... I just paid the vet $37 to trim and cap her claws, and it was much less stressful for everyone. She doesn't claw or race around, but she loves making biscuits, and can get a bit sharp by accident.

For the cushions, if they're already made/laying around the house, you can use a couple large stitches with doubled heavy duty thread to tack the cushions together, then find a thin strip of fabric (old tights or pantyhose would even work!) and sew that to either end and slip it under the lid. Chances are if you just drop the cushions on the trunk, they'll go flying after the first time a cat goes zooming across them.

 

[Tobermory]

For the cushions, if they're already made/laying around the house, you can use a couple large stitches with doubled heavy duty thread to tack the cushions together, then find a thin strip of fabric (old tights or pantyhose would even work!) and sew that to either end and slip it under the lid.

Clever! Thanks for the good ideas!