Expert: Eileen Cronk - 4/5/2010

Question
Hi Eileen
I just wanted to THANK YOU!!! I just finished a big job trying to save my kitchen cabinets. and thanks to info I found from responses you gave to people on this site. It came out beautifully!!!
I had had my maple cabinets, stripped and refinished by a firm that had done work for me before. Well they stripped them, and slopped some stain on them but apparently put no top coat on. basically it was a terrible job, and as soon as they bought back my cabinet doors and hung them they disappeared. literally!! not that I would ever have had them work on them again.
So I followed your instructions and tried some other things and they came out beautifully.
I washed with TSP, then used 0000 steel wool, touched up w here I could with the stain, or a touch up marker, then used Circa Pure TUng Oil, when dry, used the steel wool again, etc. put on three coats of tung oil, then as a final protectant, used some butchers wax applied with steel wool then buffed!
There are 51 cabinet door/drawer fronts so it has taken quite a bit of time, but it is finished as of this weekend and has turned out beautifully. THANK YOU so much for your advice, I would have never known what TUNG oil was!!! without this site.
Keep up the great work!!! the advice was Invaluable!!!
Linda

Answer
Hi Linda
What a nice letter. Thank You.
Fifty one cabinet doors..OH BOY!!!
Down the road you can freshen the cabinets up at any time with tung oil but you will need to remove the wax with steel wool dipped in mineral spirits (called varsol in Canada) before oiling again.
For now you are fine but in future skip the wax step.
Funny enough tung oil is one of the few finishes that you should not wax over.
But, no worries. Just avoid wax in future.
Thank you again for your kind words.
Eileen