Natural Care for Wood Furniture

Wood furniture is welcome in many homes. For many people wood furniture is what they want to have. Wood is warmer then plastic and more desirable since it has a beauty all it's own. Antique furniture is often wood and should be cared for diligently to keep it's natural beauty. There are several commercial polishes and cleaners on the market today that help to keep wood looking it's best. If you don't particularly like the chemicals in store bought furniture products here are some ideas that you may want to try to keep your wood furniture looking it's very best.

Wood furniture loves moisture. It does not benefit from water in fact water can damage wood furniture. Water is not the best way to clean wood furniture but at times you may have to resort to using water to clean depending on the dirt that is on the wood furniture. If you find that you have to clean your wood furniture with some water follow the water cleanup with some oil polish of some kind to retreat the wood.

Beeswax is one of the best furniture polishes you can use to polish wood furniture. Beeswax gives furniture a wonderful shine and helps develop an antique patina to the wood. You can make a furniture polish of beeswax and turpentine to polish your furniture. First melt down an ounce of beeswax. After the beeswax has melted remove the melted beeswax from the stove and put one cup of turpentine into the beeswax and mix them together. Be careful to keep the turpentine away from flames since it is highly combustible. If you want to substitute olive oil for the turpentine you can do that too. Use this furniture polish on your wood furniture and wood floors. This polish can be slippery on floors so use it with caution.

It you want to brighten unpolished wood furniture you can wipe cold tea on the wood. The tea brings out the grain of the wood and it will slightly darken the wood.

Lemon oil is also a good wood polish. You can buy lemon oil in a hardware store. It is easy to use and the lemon oil has a fresh clean scent. Just pour a small amount of the lemon oil on a clean cotton cloth and rub it on the wood furniture. Lemon oil brings out the natural beauty to your furniture and protects the wood.