Finish Deterioration

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78
Location
Maplewood, NJ
Can somebody help me with a finish mystery?

We've got a Morris chair that we bought from E.J. Audi-Stickley around fifteen years ago. It's identical to the one in the attached photo.

We keep it in an addition off the back of our house, an octagon-shaped room that's mostly windows on five sides. The windows are open all summer long.

A few years after we got the chair, the finish on the top of arms towards the front became, for lack of a better term, "gummy." By gummy, I mean it softened and started to lift. You could easily scrape it off with a fingernail.

That didn't seem right to me, considering that we'd paid something like $1700 for the chair, so I contacted the Stickely people, and they couldn't have been nicer. They arranged to have the chair picked up and shipped to their factory in upstate New York, where they did a great repair job and I only had to pay a nominal sum for the shipping. I think the chair was gone four or five weeks.

That was about four or five years ago. Now the same thing is happening all over again. I suppose I could call Stickley again, but it seems kind of silly. Thought they do a great job, there's no point in paying for the shipping and doing without the chair for a month if it's not going to last.

I should point out that the part you can scrape off with your nail is pretty thick and has the consistency of dried wax and the surface below it still retains the color and patina of a finished chair. In other words, I'm not looking at raw wood.

The Stickley people are somewhat tight-lipped about what their finishing process is, so I can't tell you what they use.

Anyway... does anybody have any idea what's happening and how to remedy it?

Thanks!
 

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Brian:

I have no idea what they are using as a finish, but it the tops of the arms are "gummy" it could be that oil/grease transferred from regular use is dissolving the finish. It the entire arm "gummy" or just at wear points?

Jim
 
I think I'd still get back to the company & tell them what's happening again & explain that you really don't want to pay shipping & be without the chair. If it were me, I'd then politely ask if they would do the repair totally on their nickel including the shipping, because it's a flaw in their finish. (unless your family uses some odd skin care products...and I don't mean that in jest...is there any unique product that's coming in contact with the chair?)

If they won't, I'd ask if they would either send you some of their finishing product, or at least tell you what will be compatible if you re-finish the chair. You've got nothing to lose.
 
At this point, I don't think I'd want to refinish the arms with the same process that Stickley uses. Though I don't doubt that contact with my skin is half the problem, the other half is their finish.

And that presents another issue.

I'm sure a coat of urethane would prove to be immune to my skin oils, but I'm not about to do that to this beautiful chair. Unfortunately, over the years, my purported concern for this beautiful chair hasn't motivated me to do anything preventive... like putting an occasional coat of wax between me and the finish. So I can't blame Stickley for that.

I'm wondering now if there isn't some gentle way to remove the part that's gone soft and just put some paste wax over that area.
 
try some murphys oil soap and then give it a good wax job. have taken some gummy stuff off old gun stocks that way. and they came out fine afterwards. its probably the same thing steve southwood is speaking of..
 
Brian, I've talked with Stickily Teck support a few times over the years. If someone has a problem with Stickily in the DC area and calls them they refer them to me.
Stickily uses Nitro finish on there furniture.
1st you will need to remove the finish on the arms. It sounds like mostly hand oils have gotten into the finish. Tape everything off except the arms and use acetone to remove the finish. Then a light sand with 320.
You can order and easy system to finish the arms from MoHawk finishes.
1. sealer in Jet spray
2. color toner desired in Jet spray
3. Then I would seal the toner
4. satin finish in Jet spray
5. wax over after 36 hours.
 
Larry I have done a number of these chair arms for that same reason. Gummy finishes and all are created from the warmth of hands resting on them. Most people clean with a damp cloth or some kind of silicone base product and it reacts with the waterborn finish that is used by stickily today.
 
brian if you havnt sprayed finish before dont do the precat... use daves first method of repairing it with mohawk brand products.. precat is a whole nuther can of worms for a first timer..
 
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