How to restore salvaged wicker/cane/bamboo/rattan furniture?

[ME_1]

Hi there. Any suggestions as to how to restore these salvaged wicker/rattan/bamboo/cane pieces? They are meant for our own enjoyment. I would just like to cheer them up a little with new cushions and perhaps somehow restore some of the damage that appears to have been caused by pet birds.

The middle table will need to be painted white, I think. Would like suggestions on how to go about that.

However, the cane coloured ones I hope to be able to restore keeping the original cane colour. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

But the cane coloured ones I hope to be able to restore keeping the original cane colour. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

[EricL]

Hello @ME_1

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's a pleasure to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about restoring wicker and rattan furniture.

It's great to hear that you've decided to give these outdoor furniture pieces a revamp. I suggest having a quick look at this discussion - How to paint cane furniture by @Diy_Shell.

Looking at the photos you've posted, I can see that some of them have been exposed to extensive weather damage. I recommend using Intergrain 1L UltraPrep Timber Cleaner on the extremely weathered pieces. Please make sure to use gloves and safety glasses when using this cleaner.

As for the damaged areas, I suggest using Selleys 500mL Aquadhere PVA Wood Glue Exterior Adhesive. The steps to restoration involve sanding, washing and then prepping the furniture for painting. It's important to remove any loose paint before you put on new paint on the furniture surface.

Here is a link to our best advice article on this topic: How to restore cane furniture?

Here is a handy step-by-step guide: How to restore wooden furniture.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[ME_1]

Hi EricL,

Thank you for your fabulous response. We’ll get going and will keep you informed of how it goes.

[EricL]

Hi @ME_1

Should you run into any issues while restoring the outdoor furniture, please don't hesitate to post a question. Our members will be more than happy to provide advice and information.

Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing the start of your outdoor furniture revamp.

Eric

[ME_1]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your response.

We've made some progress already. We found a bottle of diggers anti-mould linseed oil in the garage and this worked wonders on the two cane chairs.

Re the round wicker table. It appears that there is some residue of lacquer left which makes it hard to get even coverage of paint. Would this product (Intergrain 1L UltraPrep Timber Cleaner ) as suggested by you, be suitable to attempt to remove this residue of lacquer, or is there a better way/product to remove this lacquer? Over time the lacquer has hardened and now looks like tiny little plastic light green coloured coils wrapped around the wicker.
I thought to remove this residue with a steel brush but the wicker has become rather delicate over time and would get damaged by that treatment.
thank you for your feedback.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Me_1, 

I'd recommend you try Feast Watson Woodclean over the Intergrain product. They are basically the same product, but the Feast Watson version has the addition of Hydrochloric acid, which makes it better at stripping coatings from timber. Hopefully, it should break down that hardened lacquer. You'll need to use a plastic bristle brush to agitate the solution on the furniture and dislodge the coating. Be warned, though, when you see how well it restores wicker and rattan, you might not want to paint it.

Here are some images of a piece of furniture I restored using the Feast Watson product. As easy as pouring the solution on and giving it a gentle scrub. I was amazed and how well it worked.

Mitchell

 Residual lacquer. 

[ME_1]

That looks amazing and is exactly what I’m after. Thank you! Will keep you posted.

[Guesthouse]

  

Hi @MitchellMc 

I’m new to this community (how good!) and am following this thread with interest. 🧐 
I have 2 cane chairs that I’d like to restore right back to natural wicker. They’ve probably had 3 or more coats of paint on them over their lifetime. 

I see you recommended for @ME_1 to use the Feast Watson Woodclean product that has some grunt, but will it remove the layers of paint on my chairs, or do you recommend something else?

Also, what do you recommend I use to repair the missing ‘foot’ trimming?

Thank you for your help. 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Guesthouse. It's splendid to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about restoring wicker.

You'd need to use a paint stripper for your chairs. However, there are thousands of nooks and crannies that you're not going to be able to remove the paint from, even with the stripper. You'll likely be able to get the majority of the paint off the surface with some patience, but you'll never be able to remove it all. Given that, I'd recommend you paint them in the colour of your choosing, which will refresh their look. I'm all for restoring them to the bare wicker, but I don't think it's possible.

Real wicker is a relatively specialised product, and I'm not aware of where you could acquire it. If you were going to re-paint, I suspect that a few winds of clothesline around the feet could mimic wicker adequately. I was actually re-stringing my clothesline a few weeks back and thought that the line looked like wicker.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Guesthouse]

Thank you for your response, I was wondering if I’d bitten off more than I could chew with the stripping back factor 😣 so I’ll revert to the original plan of another coat of paint. 

is there anything you’d recommend I do to prep them for paint?

I like the sound of the clothes line option. Creative solutions are always inspiring!

thank you again.