Howard Products Store Howard-RF9016

This is a very good product that performs as promised to restore and clean many wood finishes. Restoration is not the same as refinishing. On some types of wood furnishings and finishes, it will improve the appearance dramatically, remove blemishes and clean the wood. It works best on: -Furniture that is scratched with a dull stained finish -Fine furniture with a shiny lacquer finish It will improve the appearance of badly scratched furniture with the above types of finishes. It does not work well on sealed finishes (polyurethane). I have used this product in all of the above situations. Following are some of the results achieved. First, a small pine table with a dull finish appeared shabby and needed improvement. The surface was severely scratched, with mostly surface level damage. After a five minute simple wipe-on application of the product using a rag, the results were dramatic. If I wanted to fuss over this piece, I would reapply using fine steel wool and touch up some of the gouges with a stain pen. Six months later, the table looks almost as it did prior to using the product, and it needs to be reapplied. Howard's Restor-A-Finish proved it's worth during my second project, the restoration of a high quality solid wood table top with a glossy, lacquered finish. The table had white heat marks the size of a salad plate that would not disappear with any previous methods attempted. Prior to using this product, I attempted to remove the white marks by researching solutions in Google. "Removing white heat marks from wood" yielded several cautious attempts from "applying steam again" to using toothpaste, mayonnaise and other so-called "remedies". The white marks remained in the finish. When I found out about the Howard's product here on Amazon, I read some of the reviews where reviewers claimed they were able to remove white rings by simply wiping the product on with a rag. I tried this and it did not work. I was afraid my money went down the tubes, but decided to try using steel wool. 0000 Steel Wool was too soft and ineffective. With 000 grade, it took some patient effort, but less than ten minutes later the white marks were gone. Replenishing the piece of steel wool regularly increased the effectiveness of the process. Work with the grain, use light pressure and keep checking your results to be sure you don't damage the finish. (See before and after photos.) Howard's is also an excellent product to polish and detail wood furniture that is already in good shape, reviving it a bit and making it look exceptionally clean and shiny. For best results with wood finishes that need cleaning, use steel wool. As mentioned earlier, the product will improve the appearance of some finishes, but does not do anything that I would consider restorative on certain finishes. For example, I wiped it on a small table that appears to have had a polyurethane finish that was in poor condition. It deposited a light stain in the areas that were lighter, but the result wasn't very impressive. The areas where the urethane finish was not damaged was cleaned, but the stain was unable to penetrate the lighter scratches. The only solution for this type of situation is either covering the old finish or removing it. A similar result was obtained on a very old veneer top using steel wool and minimal elbow grease. The result is better than before, but the wood still shows a lot of the underlying damage. Another mediocre result was achieved on a furniture with deep scratches. The product changed the color of the scratches and improved the appearance dramatically. However, the damage was still visible. Better results were achieved by filling the scratches with a wood crayon, and smoothing them out using fine steel wool and a light hand to prevent marring the finish. This is a stop-gap solution for furniture that either should be refinished or painted. All in all, this is an excellent product for cleaning and addressing many wood furniture problems without refinishing.

My kitchen cabinets, made of cherry plywood, are about 50 years old. They were in such horrible condition that I was thinking of painting them. There were large areas of that were missing not only the surface finish, but even the stain. In other words, they were down to bare wood in spots. I panicked when a realtor made an appointment to evaluate my house the next day! I wasn't sure if Howard's Restor-a-Finish would work after watching a YouTube video called "Where Restore-A-Finish works best and where it will not!" That video states that it will only work on shellac or lacquer finishes. It says it won't work on polyurethane or polyacrylic finishes and that the test for those finishes is to apply some alcohol to the finish and rub it with a swab---if the color comes off, Restor-a-Finish WILL work on it. I did that test and no color came off. I decided to proceed anyway, testing Restor-a-Finish on the the back of a door. That went well, so I applied it to all 14 cabinets and 6 drawers. The result was amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes. The parts that were worn down to bare wood were about 75% improved---not perfect, but much, much better. The remainder, where the finish was worn but the color was still there, were 100% better. The sheen is a pleasant sort of "egg shell," not flat but not too shiny either. The realtor didn't notice anything amiss with the cabinets! I was lazy and didn't even wash the cabinets before starting. They still came out great. The best part is that the whole job took less than one hour! I don't know how this product works, but it does. It's like magic. One caveat: it smells pretty bad, so do open a window, but the smell disappeared quickly after the job was done. I spilled some on the floor tiles and it wiped up easily. Definitely one of my best Amazon purchases. It saved me a huge amount of money and/or time and probably added to the value of my house.

SOOOO HAPPY! I just inherited an antique cedar chest from my grandparents. It was made in 1942. It has some big issues, but lots of little issues too. I dont have the time to do a full restoration yet, but I wanted it to look decent while holding my blankets until its fully restored. Restore a Finish worked amazingly! The fine scratches are gone and the shine is incredible! Its taken a sad, dull and faded chest to a shiny, polished piece. For what i needed, and hoped for, this exceeded my expectations!! It was simple to use( I used 0000 steel wool and wiped off with a rag). The color matched perfectly, though it became more vibrant after wiping on. Im very pleased!

works well to refresh cabinet faces but not anything more than minor scratches

Eazy to use and it works evey well on solid wood furniture I went through a process at first I used boiling water on a rag placed it on dents and placed an iron on top of it for about 30 seconds to a minute it pulled out the wood . s Second I found an oil-based strain that was a little bit darker than a piece of furniture and I put a couple coats on the scuffs and scratches to bring the color back then I used two coats of the products as directed a good result let dry for a couple days. applied a couple coats of car wax and wonderful results this piece of furniture and been in my family for around 50 years and he had seen better day thinking about throwing it out till I looked at the price of new solidwood furniture so I refinished and definitely happy the products is well worth his money

Love this stuff, works great. Restores wood to it’s natural beauty and easy to apply.

Works ok. Wish it had a different way to pour though.

I’m no woodworker but I used this on some scratches on the floor and a faded, heat damaged coffee table and it completely revitalized both!

Easy to use, good colour and sheen. It does mask the scratches efficiently

This product satisfies expectations and restores the desired timber finish.

It revives the furniture appearance but won’t hide scratches Shipping was disappointing as it took a month to receive it with multiple delays notifications

Used this Polish to clean and restore a 1960's Mid Century Hi Fi Table. It has brought the table back to life and restored the wood to excellent show room condition. Very easy to use, just wipe on with a cloth and wipe off a few minutes later. Has given my Mid Century table a lovely Maple shine and colour. It is a very good product for getting rid of white rings, stains and discolouration and hides minor scratches and imperfections. It does exactly what it says on the tin and does it to a very high standard. Although not cheap it is well worth the money and cheaper than sending furniture to a restoration expert. Buy it.

Looks good when wet after just apply. But eventually it more or less goes back to before application.