Howard Products, Neutral Restor-A-Finish, 8 oz

Used this product to revitalize a pine bookcase purchased at a garage sale for $3, so did not have much to lose. The bookcase seemed to have been stored in a wet basement or outdoor storage shed so it was in poor condition. A very fine steel wool 0000 pad was used to apply, which worked well removing stains and defects. Total time commitment was less than an hour. The final result was better than expected with minimal investment in terms of product costs and time. Coverage was good, as approximately half of the 8 ounce can was used. As you can see by the pictures, the end result was slightly darker than expected, but still looks great. Thanks, Restor-A-Finish!

It doesn't 'refinish' but it provides an amazing change from ugly scratched to gorgeous finish. A cat had scratched a vintage secretary desk and I had put up with the eye-sore for years. I did not want to tackle refinishing myself or pay dearly for someone else to do it, so I figured I had nothing to lose and decided to try Howard Restor-A-Finish. I used very fine (0000) steel wool and gently rubbed as instructed. I was amazed how simple to use and the beautiful results. The mahogany color was perfect!

This product while not a miracle worker, did definitely improve the appearance of my late 80’s golden oak cabinets. I know they are considered “outdated” but we like the look of natural wood. Recently they were looking a little worse for wear, dull and dry looking in spots. In the past I have lightly sanded and brushed on a coat of clear poly with good results. I wanted to find something that didn’t require all that drying time. This fit the bill perfectly. It was very easy to apply & even though it warns about the fumes I did not find the fumes terrible. I did run the ceiling fan and opened a window. I have a smallish L shaped kitchen and the whole project was done in about an hour. It took about half the bottle. This product did well as far as giving it a good shine and evening out the color/tone of my most used cabinets that had worn down dry areas. It did not fix most of the deeper imperfections though (like I said, not a miracle product). But for the money and ease of applying, I would definitely use this product again.

This stuff really works. We remodelled a dining room that had dark knotty pine panelling over all the walls. We stored most of the panelling outside and NOT fully protected from weather. After two years of rain, wind & snow, we decided to try to use some of it to make a built-in bookcase. The panelling was pretty ratty by then, but Restore-a-Finish gave it a new life. It's better looking now than when we took it down. It will not really soften a film of finish, so don't expect to re-distribute anything to cover major scratches. However, the colorant in the liquid does a really good job of making scratches and blemishes disappear (I have several cans of an assortment of colors). Best of all, If you apply it with 4/0 steel wool, it cleans amazingly well, and leaves a soft glow on the surface after wiping it off and polishing with a soft cloth. A local museum of antique radios has used it to restore all of their wooden cabinets. Many products make empty promises, but this one follows through. Five stars!

Previous owners of my house had kids and a dog that left the oak cabinets the worse for wear. This product was simple to use and the results were very good. Beat spending a fortune to refinish. Be aware, the fumes from this product are moderate. If you are sensitive to paint/varnish fumes, make sure you have good ventilation.

So yeah I've used a few products to try to "refinish" my orangey looking cabinets/ furniture and I'd like to share my experience. 1. Howard citrus wax in dark oak- while it did darken or make my cabinets look better, it's not easy to use. Like it'd leave streak marks onto the cabinets even I cleaned them thoroughly and wiped the wax into the direction of the wood grain with finest steel wool. So from my experience, that was just a so so product. (3-3.5 stars at most) 2. Fiddes & Son wax in Espresso- MUCH easier to use than Howard citrus wax. Also dries much better and does not leave as much streak mark as Howard citrus wax. It also does not smell bad. The thing is the wax dries really fast and you will have to hurry up and buff. I also discovered my left over half can of wax hardened after some time when I opened it again (yes that was my 2nd can!). But if you want to "darken" your cabinets for a bit, I think this works the best among all products I tried. So 4 stars! 3. English oil for dark wood- very easy to use and smells good. Just wipe it on and it'll cover light scratch marks if you rub it on that area. Also very economical . Doesn't darken wood a lot but I somehow (don't know if it's my illusion) after a few days the wood seems to have darken on my table legs. So for a fast, economical "refinish" I think this fits the bill. I did add protection with Goddard's spray on furniture oil and the cabinets appear to be shiny and nicer afterwards. So 4 stars! 4. THIS product- It stinks but not too bad. The thing is I did notice it works almost the same as English Oil.... so not that big of a difference--- cover light scratches and thats about it. But this product smells worse and costs more. Also if you want to darken your furniture a bit. I don't think this works... English Oil works slightly better IMO. So I kind of regret I tried another Howard product (yes all of their products have excellent reviews though...) Maybe I'm out of luck on this brand? I'd give it 3 stars.

This is a great product makes your old hardwood floors look great

Volgens ons is het een soort olie want het doet niet wat er gepromoot wordt. We hebben het meerdere malen geprobeerd maar het werkt niet. Jammer

Era justo lo que necesitaba, los arañazos los desaparece totalmente, recomiendo ampliamente

Great shine and long lasting!

Bin absolut begeistert, lässt altes Wurzelholz an uralten Schränken wie neu aussehen, Gerüche sind weg, schmiert nicht und glänzt

Great product