Based on my experiences with wood furniture, you'll need to either prime/paint all 4 chairs (which is a good look with a wood table), or sand/strip each chair down to bare wood, and re-stain to match the table. It looks like the cleaning took off the original finish in some places (although I wouldn't think Dawn would do this much damage!). So the only way to achieve a uniform finish it so strip the rest of the finish and start over. This option can certainly be accomplished, but it's a lot more work than painting the chairs.

Others may have suggestions.

Those chairs make me think of Cushman Colonial pieces, which they may or may not be, but the original finish appears similar. I haven't tried to redo one myself, but did a quick search on refinishing them and found the ancient page linked. Maybe it will give you a starting point?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cushman Colonial refinishing.

Thank you for the replies. I want something quick and easy, lol!

The chairs and table were bought by my son who is setting up a new apartment. I offered to clean the chairs. They were not only filthy, they were greasy and felt tacky. He was told they came from an old ladies home who had a lot of cats. Surprisingly, the table seemed clean (maybe because you are always wiping a table.)

I took some Dawn and warm water. Thought Dawn is best on grease. After wiping with a sponge, the wood got more sticky and the sponge would stick to the wood. I took a Magic Eraser (bad idea?) and some fine steel wool to get the thick grease off.

You can see I must have removed the finish but I don't think I had a choice.

I gave up and decided to ask for help. Can I paint over the grease?

Thank you for the link. I took a quick look and I really don't want to sand all these small parts of the chairs.

I think I ruined the chairs.

Jane

You didn't ruin them. Research how to paint wood furniture. Some might recommend TSP to remove the grease, but any grease-cutting agent will remove the grease. I suspect you removed most or all of it with the Dawn already. The remaining tackiness probably isn't grease, but wet varnish. So, let dry thoroughly, then a good primer, and then paint. You can even use spraypaint to speed the process. Let your son choose a color, and have fun with it. It will turn out fine!

You are removing the varnish which has a tacky greasy feeling. It needs removing, so don't feel bad. They were probably not well cared for or someone cleaned them with something like 409 and started lifting the varnish and you just completed it. They may have been stored in a hot area without weather conditioning and that started removing the varnish and you just helped it. It's a good thing. It will not require as much sanding. You can finish doing what you are doing, put some Kilz on them to get rid of the stink, lay on some latex paint, a glaze if you like and a poly seal and you have a great DR set. I would prime with Kilz to kill bacteria and the possibility of odor seeping back in after they have been painted for a while. You probably have experienced that odor yourself in flea markets or antique stores. There is an odor that wafts through the stores. it is the smell of old furniture.

I would try cleaning them with mineral spirits poured on a rag. The same thing may happen, but it should be less work. If those results are not good enough, use the mineral spirits with the steel wool.

As others have said, that's not grease, that the finish deteriorating.

Not sure I would add any chemical to the cleaning process. You are removing the "slick" which prevents paint from bonding to furnishings. If you add any chemical it could remove the glue that is holding the chairs together. Be careful about using anything else. What you are doing is fine.

I refinished an antique table and used dawn and dobie pad to take off the build up of grease. It also took off a lot of the finish which was fine because I was going to redo it anyway.

I then used mineral spirits with fine steel wool until I was down to bare wood. The table and the grain looked lovely when it was wet from the mineral spirits so I decided to not stain at all and let the natural cherry show. I finished the table with shellac. The finish is as dark as the table was originally and it is beautiful.

If you want a natural wood look try that method. If you want to paint the chairs just continue with the Dawn until all grease is removed before priming and painting.

quick and easy? light sanding and some cans of spray paint.

patricia43, there is no need to scare the OP. Mineral spirits is a common cleaning product for wood. It's not going to remove the glue holding the chairs together.

As for your use of the word chemical, well, everything is a chemical - she's already using chemicals on the chairs: the water is a chemical, the Dawn is a chemical.

Here is a link that might be useful: One example of cleaning with mineral spirits

Chairs are pretty sturdy things. If Dawn and water removed the finish, it was a finish that needed to come off. I use water and a little Dawn on my painted cabs and they are just fine.

Refinishing wood furniture is one of my favorite creative outlets. It can be a lot of work. It can be not what you originally intended to do. Last year I had to strip a little student desk down to bare wood after a foray into gel stain went bad on me. If you have the space and time to tackle this, you'll amaze yourself. It's not difficult.

I believe I said I would not ADD any chemical. I agree that Dawn contains chemical but I meant nothing else. I think the Dawn is adequate for the project unless she is going back to a natural finish which I did not get the impression was the intent. The more you mix the more likely you are to loose the glue. But that has only been my experience. I have used mineral spirits many times in place of turpentine secondary to the fumes of turpentine. They are both solvents.

Since you've removed 1/2 of the finish already, I say spray paint! You can get some really fun colors for their new home!
Sue

Wow, thanks for all the good advice! I think I ruined the chairs and would need to paint them to try to salvage them. I was thinking of trying gel stain? Never used it but have read many people who seemed happy with it on the Forums. Is it easy to use?

I'm afraid of spray paint as I might make a 'worse' mess of the chairs.

What would you recommend I use for paint? Maybe black. The table is in good shape but is the color of the chairs. Maybe that would look weird, I'm not tackling the table.

The more I think about it, I might just look for chairs to replace these. I don't have time to try to strip down the wood and stain or sand all those little spindles.

Thanks so much for the information.

Here's what one looked like this morning after it dried.
{{!gwi}}

I didn't even get to the legs yet...

Jane

Don't be afraid to spray paint. It is not hard to do. Just don't hold the can too close or spray it to heavily. I did that on the chairs from an old dinette set. The table had wood legs but a brow wood look Formica top. I left the Formica top wood but sprayed the legs black to match the chairs. It turned out fine. When the chairs and table legs got nicked and scuffed up, the wood showed through a bit but it just looked "distressed".
The table was used by my daughter in her college apartment. She did not want the "old fashioned country style stained wood set but loved it painted.

I think this is a candidate for the paint store to tell you but personally I would not use spray paint.

Spray paint is going to give you a glossy look. Therefore, you will need to keep working until you get the furniture very, very smooth for a very good high gloss look, which will scratch easily on chairs whose rungs, most likely, people will prop their feet onto. That would not be what I would want, a bunch of scratched up chairs that I worked hard on.

I do not think I would invest the money in the AS Chalk Paint. That's a lot of bread to shell out.

This is JMHO, I would finish cleaning with the Dawn. I would wash down with hose briskly (just enough to remove any residual soap) and allow to dry, dry, dry for a few days just to make sure the very porous wood was totally dry. Otherwise, the moisture level could interfere with a water based paint, which is what I would use: a latex.

I would slap a coat or two (depending on the color I wanted) on this suite (latex dries fast if the wood is very dry). You do not have to be very precise with latex. You can just slap it on.

Once that dries, you can/cannot (depending on your preference) glaze it to bring it down in color, soften the color.

Once that is completed, put a poly or verathane coat of sealer on it.

That is JMHO and we are all entitled to our opinion. This is stated in an attempt at preempting the flamers.

You haven't "ruined" the chairs at all! You've just taken off the worst of the old cruddy finish that needed to come off anyway.

Having worked with a lot of beginners to wood refinishing, I think gel stain is most definitely your answer. You can control how dark it gets, and it's an ideal finish for beginners who haven't done a lot of refinishing. It will color where color has been wiped off, and not affect the already-colored parts very much.

Honestly, gel stain will be MUCH less work than prepping them for paint and then fussing to get the paint even. If you have ever polished furniture with a cloth, that's exactly what you do with the gel stain. Put on rubber gloves, dip edge of polishing rag into the can, rub it into wood. Done! You don't need to do any sanding or anything else more than what you've already done by cleaning them! The rag will reach every crevice of the spindles, etc. Just like polishing them.

(If you hate it, you can still always resort to painting them afterwards!)

Then use a simple wipe-on polyurethane to protect the color, same procedure (dip rag in, wipe on) and you are good to go! I promise. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: GF gel stain in Candlelite - what I'd recommend

This post was edited by circuspeanut on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 12:19

Gel Stain! Is this easy to use and does it last?? I want to avoid having to sand all this wood. Gel Stain it will be although I am tempted by Patricia and the paint. If I just wash it all with Dawn and dry well.

Thanks so much,
Jane

Circuspeanut gave you good advice on the gel stain. Sounds like something that can work well for the condition of the chairs and the prep work you have done (cleaning).
Be sure and show us the results! I want to gel stain "something".

Just wanted to share a good paint for furniture that I have used - Rustoleum American Accents Satin, if the gel stain doesn't work out. I have used the Black and the Colonial Red and it goes on as smooth as butter with hardly any brush marks. This was recommended to me by a poster on another message board who does a lot of specialty type painting, glazes, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rustoleum American Accents