General Chat

A salad dressing - right?

It's also amazing for restoring old wood furniture too!

I'm still arranging/re-arranging my bungalow, and have decided where great granny's hand made sewing table was going to 'live'.
I looked at it, and decided, after probably 80 years of neglect, and central heating for the past 20 years, it needed some TLC.
I looked online for furniture restorers I could apply. They're not too cheap, and add to that the bus fare (I don't use 'Amazon').......

So I looked up home-made restorers, and came across a vinegar and Olive oil one.
My sister gave me half a gallon of distilled white vinegar when I moved in.
Rummaging in the cupboards, I came across half a bottle of extra virgin olive oil - use by date, 2015! :-0 Probably just shoved into a box at the last minute!

I mixed them, half and half, and applied a small bit, to the back of the table with a bit of muslin, and left it overnight.

The piece I had oiled was fine - just shiny. I did the rest, and it's amazing!
When I saw it, the morning after doing it, I though 'Oh no, the oil is just staying on top', but it wasn't - that was the 'I've been revitalised' shine!!
Gave it a swift wipe with a clean cloth, just to make sure it wasn't oily - and it wasn't.

Today I have oiled granny's old 1940's 'His Master's Voice' gramaphone player, I used 2 spoons of oil to one of vinegar for this one, as it looked very dry.
It looks lovely, and 3 hours later - not at all oily.

As the weather has been hot you already know if your home smells like one vast dressed salad!

I you are ever in a DIY store, get yourself some of the finest wire wool you can and give it a bit of a going over. You will need sunglasses!

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

I doesn't! :-D - and it could smell of worse! (ancient cat who occasionally can't be bothered going out)

I've just used the stuff on a 1940's suitcase (after doing a test patch, of course)
I never realised it was blue! :-0
It was always scuff marks, brownish and dirty before.

Wow Maggie, thats amazing and well done. I always think when i shopping and see all these expensive tins & sprays of cleaning stuff, that im sure good old vinegar or baking soda will work just as good.

Olive oil is used for lots of things, not just salad dressings.

Left some jewellery once in a cup of whisky and it sure got everything all clean and sparkly.

Florence in the hebrides

I'm not sure I'd like to use anything even slightly harsh on any of it, Sharron I like a bit of 'wear & tear' :-D

Some websites 'warn' that the olive oil may go rancid. Well, you're not eating it, are you? Apparently rancid olive oil smells like crayons or putty.
My olive oil, (6 years past it's use by date) is past rancid!!

*just went out to sniff it* - it smells like oil - not olive oil - just oil!

The wire wool brings up a wonderful shine on wood. Better than a cloth or brush.

My niece once put my wooden handled kitchen knives in the dishwasher.

By that time, I'd had them almost 20 years, I had not had a dishwasher for most of that time so everything was hand washed, and I had just continued hand washing these knives and some wood-handled steak knives that were a wedding present. The handles still looked like new.

Not after I took them out of the dishwasher. :-(

Like you, I looked around the kitchen, saw the extra virgin olive oil, and really worked into those handles.

Success!!


As for the fine wire wool that Sharron mentioned .................. one of the ways to restore teak furniture (the really good solid ones) is to buy some special teak oil (not sure if olive oil would work), and gradually work it in to the wood with fine wire wool or very fine sandpaper.

It gets rid of all those scratches, and brings the wood back to "like new".

I may try the wire wool next time I decide the woodwork needs a bit of refreshment - say, in, 20 years time! :-D :-D

Wow Maggie.. suitcase looks fab.Good job done :-D

Florence in the hebrides

It's still there - on the stool where I did the work.
I keep stroking it, it's not at all oily, just shiny!

Tomorrow, I'm going to take it outside (providing it's not raining) to oil the locks, and the metal extension bits on the back.
I may even try to re-line it - it currently has a lining of 3 different wallpapers, and no lining in the lid!

Then I'll put it's contents back. They are the 'unacceptable' bits of times gone by - like a fox fur, some other type of fur collar, a 'lucky' rabbits foot, mink butterfly brooch, Scottish grouse foot brooch, oh, and a couple of evening bags, amber brooches a fan and a very heavily fringed shawl!