Unless he oiled it...
Printable View
... well I'm assuming that if it was simply oil, he would have wiped it off!
Thers nothing on the metal, it is just as it is supposed to be.... I assume, after 124 years I am just confused over the reddish color of the wood and of course the sheen.
OK, got that. It's very difficult to judge a surface from photos.
As to the red colour, this could, for instance, be caused by the use of a finish involving shellac.
Enough of speculative musings - Why not simply try the turpentine test I suggested?
Try Patrick's method. If the turps cuts the finish, you'll know it's linseed. If it doesn't, you need to get the correct chemical strippers for both lacquer/varnish and polyurethane and test those too. I've got a couple of SMLEs here now in polyurethane and it's a job to get it off but your wood will be much healthier and nice looking when done.
3 possibilities:
On a suitably discreet test area:
1) Rub with turpentine. If that takes off the shine, it is an oil finish.
If not...
2) Rub with alcohol/methylated spirits. If that takes off the shine, it is shellac.
If not...
3) It is some kind of varnish, and the jelly-type paint stripper is the best way to remove it. GOOD NEWS: as shown elsewhere (if you followed my links) after stripping and removing any stripper residue, you can go straight to linseed oil application.
Please note: old wood needs to be treated with a bit of respect. Follow the order above.
At NO TIME do you need water, caustic soda, oven cleaner or sandpaper!
Thanks for the sound advise Patrick, (and everyone else) the shellac and reddish tinted finish came off with alcohol and left me with some beautiful wood underneath with some slight tiger striping all I had to do was apply a few coats of BLO and I was left with a beautiful finish.......I couldn't be more pleased. thanks again!
"Thanks for the sound advise Patrick, (and everyone else) the shellac and reddish tinted finish came off with alcohol and left me with some beautiful wood underneath with some slight tiger striping all I had to do was apply a few coats of BLOhttps://www.milsurps.com/autolinker/images/link6.gif and I was left with a beautiful finish.......I couldn't be more pleased. thanks again! "
So how about a photo?