Most hardwoods do not have natural oil. Only teak rosewood ebony and aromatic cedar do and the oil impacts how you strip or finish them.
Do you say to your spouse "Honey, I am going to oil our trees today?"
Of course not.
The exotic hardwoods of teak, rosewood, cocobolo, and ebony are used for decorative purposes as accents to other woods. They are used also for whole pieces of furniture, especially older ornate furniture of rosewood and modern teak furniture. Aromatic Cedar used in hope chests also has natural oils.
It is common to find older items made of one of these woods where the topcoat clear finish has lifted or separated from the wood below due to the natural oils in the wood. They become highly susceptible to water damage, scratching or abrasion.
It is rare that these hardwoods ever receive coloration with stain since their natural beauty is the reason the woods are used in the first place. The removal of an existing discolored finish will change the coloration and/or darkness that can not be corrected if refinished natural.
The existing finish might be penetrating oil, a wax finish, or a topcoat clear finish such as lacquer.
- A topcoat of lacquer can be removed by normal stripping procedures.
- A wax finish is extremely difficult to remove since normal stripping procedures will not cut through the wax. The only option is to scrub back and away the old wax layers with hot solvents.
- A penetrating oil finish is also not strippable, but can be scrubbed back like wax.
If oil, oil/varnish blend, or varnish is used for the new finish the finish will take extra long timeframes to cure. All of these types of finish cure by absorbing oxygen and the oils in these woods retard the absorption of the oxygen.
The other problem occurs with lacquer, conversion finishes, and water base finishes. The oil in the wood prevents these surface topcoat finishes from establishing a good bond with the wood. We can prevent such problems by wiping the surface of the wood with a cloth dampened with a fast evaporating solvent such as naphtha or lacquer thinner. This cleans the wood’s natural oil off the wood surface. After the solvent evaporates completely, we quickly apply the new lacquer finish.
Our preferred new clear topcoat finish is water clear acrylic lacquer.
The above is extracted from "Understanding Wood Finishing" by Bob Flexner 1994 and we appreciate his expertise.
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