Restor-A-Finish

This is a very good product that performs as promised to restore and clean many wood finishes. Restoration is not the same as refinishing. On some types of wood furnishings and finishes, it will improve the appearance dramatically, remove blemishes and clean the wood. It works best on: -Furniture that is scratched with a dull stained finish -Fine furniture with a shiny lacquer finish It will improve the appearance of badly scratched furniture with the above types of finishes. It does not work well on sealed finishes (polyurethane). I have used this product in all of the above situations. Following are some of the results achieved. First, a small pine table with a dull finish appeared shabby and needed improvement. The surface was severely scratched, with mostly surface level damage. After a five minute simple wipe-on application of the product using a rag, the results were dramatic. If I wanted to fuss over this piece, I would reapply using fine steel wool and touch up some of the gouges with a stain pen. Six months later, the table looks almost as it did prior to using the product, and it needs to be reapplied. Howard's Restor-A-Finish proved it's worth during my second project, the restoration of a high quality solid wood table top with a glossy, lacquered finish. The table had white heat marks the size of a salad plate that would not disappear with any previous methods attempted. Prior to using this product, I attempted to remove the white marks by researching solutions in Google. "Removing white heat marks from wood" yielded several cautious attempts from "applying steam again" to using toothpaste, mayonnaise and other so-called "remedies". The white marks remained in the finish. When I found out about the Howard's product here on Amazon, I read some of the reviews where reviewers claimed they were able to remove white rings by simply wiping the product on with a rag. I tried this and it did not work. I was afraid my money went down the tubes, but decided to try using steel wool. 0000 Steel Wool was too soft and ineffective. With 000 grade, it took some patient effort, but less than ten minutes later the white marks were gone. Replenishing the piece of steel wool regularly increased the effectiveness of the process. Work with the grain, use light pressure and keep checking your results to be sure you don't damage the finish. (See before and after photos.) Howard's is also an excellent product to polish and detail wood furniture that is already in good shape, reviving it a bit and making it look exceptionally clean and shiny. For best results with wood finishes that need cleaning, use steel wool. As mentioned earlier, the product will improve the appearance of some finishes, but does not do anything that I would consider restorative on certain finishes. For example, I wiped it on a small table that appears to have had a polyurethane finish that was in poor condition. It deposited a light stain in the areas that were lighter, but the result wasn't very impressive. The areas where the urethane finish was not damaged was cleaned, but the stain was unable to penetrate the lighter scratches. The only solution for this type of situation is either covering the old finish or removing it. A similar result was obtained on a very old veneer top using steel wool and minimal elbow grease. The result is better than before, but the wood still shows a lot of the underlying damage. Another mediocre result was achieved on a furniture with deep scratches. The product changed the color of the scratches and improved the appearance dramatically. However, the damage was still visible. Better results were achieved by filling the scratches with a wood crayon, and smoothing them out using fine steel wool and a light hand to prevent marring the finish. This is a stop-gap solution for furniture that either should be refinished or painted. All in all, this is an excellent product for cleaning and addressing many wood furniture problems without refinishing.

My kitchen cabinets, made of cherry plywood, are about 50 years old. They were in such horrible condition that I was thinking of painting them. There were large areas of that were missing not only the surface finish, but even the stain. In other words, they were down to bare wood in spots. I panicked when a realtor made an appointment to evaluate my house the next day! I wasn't sure if Howard's Restor-a-Finish would work after watching a YouTube video called "Where Restore-A-Finish works best and where it will not!" That video states that it will only work on shellac or lacquer finishes. It says it won't work on polyurethane or polyacrylic finishes and that the test for those finishes is to apply some alcohol to the finish and rub it with a swab---if the color comes off, Restor-a-Finish WILL work on it. I did that test and no color came off. I decided to proceed anyway, testing Restor-a-Finish on the the back of a door. That went well, so I applied it to all 14 cabinets and 6 drawers. The result was amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes. The parts that were worn down to bare wood were about 75% improved---not perfect, but much, much better. The remainder, where the finish was worn but the color was still there, were 100% better. The sheen is a pleasant sort of "egg shell," not flat but not too shiny either. The realtor didn't notice anything amiss with the cabinets! I was lazy and didn't even wash the cabinets before starting. They still came out great. The best part is that the whole job took less than one hour! I don't know how this product works, but it does. It's like magic. One caveat: it smells pretty bad, so do open a window, but the smell disappeared quickly after the job was done. I spilled some on the floor tiles and it wiped up easily. Definitely one of my best Amazon purchases. It saved me a huge amount of money and/or time and probably added to the value of my house.

WOW! Love this stuff. Easy to use and it rejuvenated my antique table and dresser. I cleaned the furniture before with Krud Kutter then Restore. Im amazed with how easy and beautiful it turned out. Im definitely buying more in different colors

I rarely leave product reviews, but this one deserves it. I have used the Cherry formula, the Neutral formula, and the Maple/Pine formula. In most cases, the easy 5-minute process got rid of water marks and other blemishes and left a nice but subtle sheen that made sun-bleached or damaged wood look much healthier. However, the effectiveness of the product (at least if you do not do the more advanced technique of first lightly using 0000 steel wool on the surface) depends on the furniture's finish. If it is a hard varnish, the product will not do much (again, at least without using steel wool first). But if the wood has a less hard finish, the results are impressive. One thing to know is that you should chose a light color, particularly if the finish is not in good shape. I used the Maple/Pine version on some pine cabinets and it made the places where the varnish had come off too dark. The results were much better when I used the almost clear Neutral version. Last thing to know is that product support was great. When I called with a question, a live person picked up immediately (and when I mentioned that it was nice to get someone so quickly I was told the company's policy is to pick up all calls within three rings). She transferred me to someone who also picked up immediately and thoroughly answered my question. A great experience and result all around, but it won't solve all your furniture woes.

This product works like a miracle. I thought I was going to have to replace the cabinets under my kitchen sink because they became dry and dull from getting wet and being used more than the other cabinets, but this product restored them. It took several applications to get them looking perfect, because they were so dry, but it was totally worth it and restored them to looking new again. It will also remove white rings from tables and will conceal small scratches in furniture.

Doesn’t work! I had water stains and scratches and didn’t make a difference.

This stuff is amazing! I have natural cherry wood furniture for my bedroom that was handmade in rural Kentucky about 45 years ago. The pieces are antique reproduction, and they almost qualify as antique at this point! There are a few scratches here and there that have accumulated over the years. But the top of the blanket chest has been a hot mess of scratches for quite some time. I applied a tiny amount of the cherry finish with a cotton terry cloth and immediately wiped dry. All of the scratches magically disappeared! I was astonished and wish I had taken "before and after" photos. I finished applying the finish to the rest of the blanket chest and it looks terrific. I can't wait to spruce up the rest of the furniture now too!

Covers the scratches up and gives table a nice shine. Ive used this product for over 25 year's. We also used to use this when I worked at an antique store to make the furniture look better for sale

Easy to use, good colour and sheen. It does mask the scratches efficiently

de momento el acabado mejoro mucho, no se si con el tiempo volvera a su estado de antes, pero al aplicarlo el cambio es muy notorio, deja una apariencia como de nueva, era una puerta

Lässt sich sehr gut verarbeiten und pflegt das Holz außerordentlich

It revives the furniture appearance but won’t hide scratches Shipping was disappointing as it took a month to receive it with multiple delays notifications

I ordered this because I had 2 tables I was not able to refresh, tried multiple waxing products to revive them. Used this, was easy to use and did not take much prep or time. Just needed to wipe the product on and then wipe excess off. Removed the water stains I was struggling with and that dry look. Leaving with a rich and saturated finish. Not dark as I expected (but I had only done 2 quick applications).