Furniture question: old table top crack, Scott's Liquid Gold bad or good?

[DuctapeFatwa]

It is an old "pub" table made in England around 1760 or 70, oak.

I put Scott's Liquid gold on it, let it sit a while, wiped it off, like it says on the can. I did this twice, and now I notice a crack. I don't think it was there before. Could Scott's Liquid Gold do this?

Did I mess the table up? How can I fix it? If I just leave it alone will it get bigger and split?

[sistersofmercy]

1. What were you trying to do to begin with?

I own very few oak pieces, I prefer mahogany, but it could be a split where two pieces of wood were joined together, this happen to one of my tables. You probably just didn't notice it before.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. I was trying to clean it and make it shine, that sounds stupid now

what happened with your split? did it grow? did you try to fix it?

[sistersofmercy]

9. It's still there...

Didn't fix it and yes, it got a little bigger over time. The beauty of antiques are the imperfections imo. I'm fairly laid back about owning antiques, if it's a table I use it. I have a settee set that I'm comtemplating putting up for sale because I don't use it.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. Should I wash it with soap to get any residual oil off?

I should have looked into this before, but now I am hearing that oil is the worst thing you can do to old wood, because it makes it crack.

So is there any damage control procedure?

I don't mind the crack so much as the fear that the whole table will just split or explode or something.

[asjr]

2. If it is that old

you probably just verified its authenticity. Don't do anything else to it would be my suggestion.

[supernova]

3. Do not, DO NOT

Repeat, do not do anything that will disturb the original condition of the table as you got it. Wow! An 18th Century pub table! Congrats! :toast: May I ask how you found it?

If you are concerned about retaining its value as an antique, years of wear and tarnish, dirt, and other such effluvium are a part of the value. If you take that away by "cleaning it up" too much, you decrease the value.

If there is a crack, you might have just taken years of dirt, wax polish buildup out of it. Leave it alone.

edit: for more about original finish, see here:


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/speak/origfinish.html

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. I've had it for a while, just wasn't using it, then I decided to

use it, and read or heard somewhere that the Scott's stuff would clean it or something, and that old wood needs oil. After I wiped it off and rubbed it a while it does shine, but since the crack now the shine makes me sad. I guess I will just leave it alone and hope it doesn't split.

[Syncronaut Seven]

5. Scotts will darken scratches as the oil oxidizes.

Use only wax, bees wax is good too.

Harrad.

[Misinformed01]

7. You were never a bartender, were you?

I promise you that you didn't do anything to that table that is anywhere near as horrible as what the customers did to it.

I could make a joke here about drunken Englishmen, but I am not going to, because sure as hell I will offend somebody!

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. LOL thanks! I didn't think of that

You've made me feel better about it now. :)

[alfredo]

10. We have an old farmhouse table. It is cracked, burnt and rickety, but

it is beautiful. We can also see where kids did their homework on it. The big pencil put furrows in it.

Love it for its imperfections.

[DuctapeFatwa]

12. How do you take care of it? Do you use soap, or what?

I can love it for its imperfections, I just want to stop any damage the oil did and keep it from getting worse and maybe breaking or blowing up.