Question
This summer we built cabinetry and finished millwork for some clients. The GC did all the install work and at the end of the job, the used a furniture polish (Old English) to clean the millwork and interior doors. It was applied pretty sloppily and left on pretty heavily so that when you stand at an angle and the sunlight hits it, you see the haze of the wax and rag marks. Looks like a very poorly waxed car. The client and the GC have a strained relationship and I've been called in to diagnose and if needed fix it.
The job is VG fir that was clearcoated with SW precat. Friday, I tried cleaning off a couple doors with mineral spirits (heavily wet rag, scrubbed hard a couple times). All that did was bring the haze out even more. Then tried applying some standard spray polish to see if I could melt what I'm assuming is the wax back into another polish and it looked great… for a day. But now the haze is back.
I also tested a couple small areas and whatever residue is left on there does not fisheye or cause adhesion issues with spraying some standard rattle can lacquer over it after cleaning with mineral spirits, although my preferred method would be to brush on dewaxed shellac and then WB clearcoat (as clients have moved into the home now) if it's needed to recoat... But that's the last resort, I'm hoping.
Any solutions short of recoating after a good cleaning or stripping and sanding? What solvent would take this stuff off? I should mention the GC tried a warm water and soap method and vigorous elbow grease with no luck. Mineral spirits seemed to make it worse. Denatured alcohol? Being a pre-cat I don't want to touch it with any solvent stronger than mineral spirits.
In the past when refinishing a client's woodwork, not stripping the shellac and WB has worked good, but this woodwork is brand new. Has to be a fix short of that (or worse yet, stripping it and then refinishing).
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor J:
Naphtha?
Repeat this process on one particular area and allow it to dry for a few hours. After making sure you don't see any oily haze, leave it alone overnight and see if you were successful in removing the Old English. This is really all you should need to do (other than giving the GC a good lashing).
If the haze is still there, you could use your method to finish over, but the GC should be paying to have everything ripped out and redone, since it's his ignorance that caused this in the first place. Never, never, never use any of those sorry furniture polishes on new finishes, ever.
You have to remove from the surface the silicone from the Old English polish, and mineral spirits or rubbing compound will not do it. You have to have a solvent that will pull it from the surface, not just move it around. He can do a simple test on one area and make sure it will give him the results he's looking for.
If you are concerned about the smell of the toluene, buy a bottle of vanilla extract and pour it in the gallon. It's mainly alcohol and will knock down the smell of the solvent very well.
