Ep 138 Amazing 1960s RESTORATION of Mid Century Modern Lane Acclaim Furniture

Today, I'm helping a friend restore old furniture for the very first time, and she showed up with a mid-century modern classic. An iconic set of Lane Acclaimed tables, but with significant water damage. There's the coffee table, plus two matching step tables, all picked up for just $200. Plus, I've added a bonus piece you haven't seen yet. If you've been around the channel for a while, chances are you've seen this dovetailed style before, but this project comes with a unique twist I think you'll really enjoy. So if you've ever thought about refinishing furniture, but felt too intimidated to start, this one's for you. My name is Barry, and it's good to be with you again. Let's take a closer look at these pieces together. On the bottom of these two-tiered tables, we see model number 900-07, referred to as step tables in the Lane Acclaimed catalog. These two tables are a true matching pair, manufactured on the same day, and we know this because the serial number, read backwards, is the date the piece was manufactured, December 12, 1959, the first year of the Acclaimed series by Lane. It's common for the top tier to be loose at the joints, so we'll remove both screws, apply heat to the joint, and reverse these clamps to slowly separate this top section. Removing this top tier will make it easier to strip the old finishes. These top pieces were lined with dowels, and often glued from the factory, so applying heat should soften any remaining glue, and prevent pulling up the thin veneer beneath, which has happened before. These rubber caps over the tapered legs are not original, so I'll remove them from all three furniture pieces. These tables were all structurally sound, so we'll move on to away the old lacquer finishes. For this step, we'll use a disposable chip brush to spread the chemical stripper evenly across the surfaces of all three tables. Because these pieces are solid, sturdy, and mostly intact, it's probably more accurate to consider this a refinishing project, and not a restoration project. On camera, it appears as though I'm doing all the work, but as we work through all these steps, it's important to note that throughout this process, she did the majority of the work herself for the very first time. She works in healthcare, but she's taken on plenty of DIY projects in her own home. This, however, was her first time completely refinishing old furniture. When she told me she planned to keep this set in her own home, I realized we weren't just restoring furniture, we were building a memory, which adds a layer of sentimental value to these iconic pieces. We know this coffee table with the bottom drawer is model number 90061, a version of the cocktail table. This one was manufactured March 10th of 1967. This is where we see the most water damage that needs to be addressed. If possible, we'd like to keep the original finishes on all the legs and stretchers, so all of these pieces will first be wiped down with a damp dishcloth and dish detergent. Following this step, everything should then be wiped down with just water and a damp cloth. This water will also help raise the grain and open up the fibers of the wood, making it easier to remove the deep stains. This is part of the old Lane Furniture Factory in Alta Vista, Virginia. The Lane Acclaim line in the 1960s was marketed as modern, affordable furniture for the middle class. Millions of these pieces were manufactured and aren't often difficult to find to this day. We'll first use a 150 grit sanding disc and hand sanding block to gently sand the stains on the surface. This should require little to no pressure. For those deep stains, the next step to try is an iron with medium to high heat and a damp cotton cloth. It's important to use a white fabric, so no new clothing dyes are embedded in the grain. We'll pass over each section for no more than 5 to 10 seconds at a time, until we begin to see the stains being removed. During this step, it's common to see tannins and natural oils extracted from the wood. The ironing helped, but this is a deep stain, so she's going to try brushing on some oxalic acid mixed in warm water to see if that works better. A tablespoon should be fine, so long as it dissolves completely in the water. She proceeded to brush on the oxalic acid with a disposable brush across the entire tabletop, and once dry, wiped it off with a damp cloth. After gently sanding with a 150 grit sanding disc, most of the stain was completely removed. This is a small snack table from the Acclaim line, and I've used it many times to compare finish choices. She's decided that she wants something close to a factory finish, which offered a subtle contrast between the solid ash border and the darker walnut veneer inlay. Here's an example of just how thin that veneer inlay actually is. The Lane Furniture Company is probably best known for manufacturing millions of miniature cedar boxes as part of the Girl Graduate program that began in 1930 and continued all the way until the 1990s. That story, as well as my visit to the old Lane factory in Virginia, can be found in episode 72. To avoid sanding through the veneer with a power sander, we've decided to sand these pieces entirely by hand. I'm sure many viewers had or still have one of these Acclaim pieces, so I thought it might be helpful to take you back to restoration from a few years ago, and just take a moment to show you how these were actually made. These dovetail inlays are simply a thin layer of ash veneer, and the border pieces were made from solid ash. The inner core, or substrate, is engineered pressed particle board. This was likely to warp, as wood often does. Here's a better look at the solid ash border compared to the thin ash veneer inlay pressed over the particle board. This near paper-thin walnut veneer inlay should explain why you often see Acclaim furniture listed as refinished on Marketplace, but often showing multiple veneer burns from power sanders. Although I've used power sanders on these before, I've chosen to sand today's project completely by hand to reduce this risk. As we continue sanding, we'll clean the surface with acetone, looking for dents, scratches, and veneer burns. There are many edges where the factory finishes were sloppy. That's common for mass-produced furniture like this. We'll clean some of this up, and also scuff all the existing finishes on the base with a 150 grit sanding sponge. This should be just enough to go over the existing color with a new stain. Applying a penetrating stain with a foam brush isn't necessary for a piece like this, and was not done this way in the factory. You could skip right to applying a coat of thin clear sealer, then build up coats of color with toner lacquer. I think by first adding a base coat of light walnut stain, we actually enhance the beautiful natural grain patterns in this wood. Although we will add some color when spraying with lacquer, building up too many coats of artificial color will only mask some of the natural beauty. This would be a good time to share with you what else I'm working on at the same time. I purchased this coffee table three years ago, and the previous owner had already sanded about 90% of this table, style number 900-09, the bench cocktail table, an extended version of the one we're currently working on. It's not uncommon to find this finished table for between $500 and $1,000 on Marketplace, but you will see that most of the asking prices online are between $1,200 and $1,800 across the country. This is going to require several hours of hand sanding, and I can understand why someone may have given up on this job. Although this video was structured in more of a how-to format for a first time restoration, I chose not to include every little detail, maybe just enough information to spark your own curiosity. The goal for my content style has almost always been to maintain a balance between the refinishing steps, the storytelling, and the modern day experiences associated with preserving these pieces of history. When applying an oil-based penetrating stain with a foam brush, it's important to apply it to each section quickly, then wipe it back immediately with a shop rag. We're beginning to see how this penetrating stain has enhanced the beautiful patterns in this bookmatched walnut veneer. Although this extended coffee table was already about 90% sanded, it still took about three hours to finish sanding the old finishes with these hand sanding tools. On the surface of this long extended coffee table, not only was there a large superficial scratch, but there were also a few depressions, or dents. We used the iron again to raise this grain, and this method worked well. Now that the stain has dried overnight, we can begin spraying the finishes with a basic HVLP sprayer. For this, you'll need a sprayer with a standard 1.8mm tip, which has a large enough orifice for spraying thicker finishes like paint, or in this case, sealer. You also want a regulator to limit the air pressure to between 25 to 35 psi. It's also important to have at least a 25-gallon air compressor that will keep up with constant spraying. All these items can be found online or at Harbor Freight. This $400 compressor was an investment for my small business, and is the most expensive tool you'll see used for this entire project. She's first pouring the lacquer sealer, then adding a splash of blush retarder. This will slow down the drying process and prevent moisture from being trapped in the finish. Trapped moisture can leave the finish looking cloudy. It's always good to first test your sprayer on something besides your furniture piece. We want a nice, consistent, even fan width of about 30 degrees. Then we'll proceed to spray on several light coats of this lacquer sealer. This 220-page furniture refinishing book, Revive and Refine, was written by a friend of mine, Aaron Moore. He's been refinishing furniture professionally for more than 20 years, and this book is where I learned most of these refinishing techniques shown in today's video. I'll link this in the video description if you're interested. As a beginner, it's probably most intimidating to spray the largest surface area of this coffee table, but she took her time, and I think she did a great job. The sealer usually dries within 10 to 15 minutes, and it's always tempting to want to remove foreign objects, but it's best to let everything dry first. In between coats, we'll sand gently with a 320 grit sponge, then clean the Although not finished from the factory, we decided to stain and protect the bottom side of each piece as well. This just provides an extra level of care and precision. It wasn't until I had stained the large coffee table that I noticed a piece of veneer missing. I'll mix up some walnut colored epoxy filler, add wax wash remover to keep it malleable, and fill this void. Unfortunately, the camera was pointing towards the ground for this application. Once dry, I'll sand back the epoxy up to a fine 400 grit, then reapply the stain. Some people prefer a stark contrast between the ash dovetails and the walnut inlay, while others like a subtle contrast much closer to the original factory finish. You'll see both options in this video. She chose a subtle contrast, so we'll add medium brown walnut dye stain to the lacquer finish. It's at this point that I called my friend Aaron and asked if we should mix the dye stain to the sealer or to the final lacquer finish. He said the sealer, but by then it was too late. We mixed enough dye stain for the desired color and proceeded to spray. We wanted a matte finish, but during this project learned that the matte finish from Mohawk is similar to a satin finish you might find in the big box stores. A flat finish by Mohawk will certainly cut down the sheen next time. It's okay though, we just continued spraying on light coats of toner lacquer until we were satisfied with the color. These legs appear to have caps on the end, but are just extensions of the wooden tapered legs. This is one simple design feature that makes these acclaimed pieces so recognizable, so we'll gently brush on a fresh coat of oil-based enamel. Before we spray on the last coat of finisher's choice clear lacquer, we'll gently sand the surface with fine 400 grit sandpaper. I'm usually the guy at the grocery store who requests paper bags. This acts as a fine abrasive for that final finish, helping to remove any near microscopic bubbles. It's a trick that's been around for a long time and leaves the surface as smooth as glass. We don't want to overly aggressive securing these top sections back to the table, so we'll just add wood glue to the dowels. This along with a factory screw should be enough to secure this appropriately. I also prefer a subtle contrast with gentle red overtones for these tables, but for my coffee table, which will likely be for resale, I decided to show a lighter finish to let you decide which one you prefer. And with that, our work is almost done here, and as we share with you the reveal, I'd like to leave you with some final thoughts. Looking back on this project, sure, there are still little flaws and imperfections, and maybe there are things we could have done differently, but that doesn't take away from how proud I am of what we've accomplished, especially what she accomplished. This was a tremendous first step, learning to sand thin veneer without burning through it, mixing toner colors to match decades old wood, and using an HVLP sprayer for the very first time. Those are skills it takes many people years to get comfortable with. She's already picked out her next restoration project, and who knows, maybe you'll be seeing her back here on the channel soon, because I'm always happy to share my workshop with friends, especially when it means passing along a love for preserving these beautiful old pieces. My name is Barry, and as always, thank you for your love and support. Next week, I'm finally starting a project I've been hinting at for a long time now, another rare find from Virginia, and one with a rich history I can't wait to share. Goodbye for now.