Wakefield Refinishing
I see there was a request in the other heywood thread for people to show pictures of their collection. I'll see what I can do tomorrow.
There's been a lot of discussion on refinishing wakefield pieces. I don't refinish furniture and I am not an expert. But I have talked to people who refinish these things for a living and this is what they told me.
Wakefield used unique "translucent" finishes that they concocted themselves. The stain part of the mixture didn't seep very deep into the wood but just enough to give it color (at least for the wood they were using). And then there was a "clear" aspect of it. So the effect was that it was very glossy, tinted, but still let the woodgrain through.
So, if someone "paints" a Wakefield piece, well you can strip it off and sand it down and restain it with an approximation of the original concoction (assuming that the paint did not penetrate into the wood to any great degree). But, if someone sands the piece and uses like a modern brown stain, that may penetrate deep into the wood. And in some cases, it is impossible to sand deep enough to acutally get all the stain out. And you have to. Because the professionally mixed wakefield stains like wheat and champagne allow you to see through the stain to the woodgrain, and it is is too light to cover up old dark stain imbedded in the wood.
In some cases, when someone has restained a wakefield piece, it is not possible to restore it to original. It's a lost cause. Someone said that restoring wakefield furniture is complicated and not everyone can do it. That is very true. You need someone who really knows what they are doing.
