We have a nice kitchen with old cabinets. The cabinets are made of soid wood with beautiful carvings. The one thing we don't like is the finish. It has an old muted dirty brownish 1950's feel. I was wondering if there is a product to change the look of the finish a little bit w/o refinishing (which is virtually impossible due to carvings). We would be very happy with a redder finish or a "creamier" finish. We need not make cabinets brighter although that would be nice, too.
Carvings are not uncleanable, a good stripper will loosen the old finish and wire wool can be used on shaped surfaces to remove finishes as well as things like old toothbrushes dipped in stripper etc. It will be time consuming and fiddly but no clear finish put on top of what you describe is likely to help.
If you're really interested, the parts (separate components) of this type of finish (or any type of finish) can be analyzed. The result of the colouring can be obtained as a solid non-see through colour coat, or in an opaque translucent (see through) way, and then there may be layers, and then there are combinations. A book on finishes would have that information if you go to the appropriate section(s), staring with say (poly)urethane etc., which may take you to other sections. These may have names, and if you understand you can make options.With this type of product, you can even get a colourless can, then add the right type of a colourant to it, with various formats of the colourant itself, and you can experiment, mix, match, etc, combine different products. I needed a waterproofing poly for an exterior door, bought a colourless poly can and made the door look like the wood from inside a courtroom, with an estimated flow of brown at the paint match machine, but keep the rest of the clear can; only cause I had read the sections just before. All Try your local library. Like many topics, its just a little too much info to write down from someone unless being specific, good luck though. "Understanding Wood Finishing" by Bob Flexner (if you spend the time you can get to this info with this book pecifically - I own this book, but am not up to that now) or "Hand-Applied Finishes" (iirc, or another - there's a icon book) by Jeff Jewitt (I have not seen this), but may be better for a beginner than Flexner's.
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Theres more to the story, but I can't remember what it is. I'm pretty sure I killed 3 finishes at one time. ie I had two uses for the components, or I had two components, of what eventually became a poly-urethane, then the colour was added to the mixture for the third finish. Can't can't think or say what, but you get the picture.
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