Hello Glenn,
I have been working on my White treadle cabinet. I used solution #1 to clean all of the wood, and a very soft toothbrush with the solution to clean in and around the carved wood. Like you describe, the finish becomes a bit dull after this treatment.
Then I used #2. This looked very good, and the wood soaked it in completely after a few hours. I haven't waxed it yet, because a few areas on the top have flaked shellac.
I thought I would try a bit of denatured alcohol and steel wool, to see if I could smooth those areas out. That may have been a bit risky, but if it didn't work I was pretty sure I'd need to move into sanding that down anyway. Interestingly, the alcohol did kind of *melt* the shellac as we would expect it to do, but the steel wool didn't have quite enough bite to completely smooth down the flaky bits.
But what I didn't expect is the brilliant shine that came up just from the alcohol and steel wool! I mean, that area really has a high gloss! It's not entirely smooth (like a final finish or a french polish) because I wasn't really trying to polish it -- just trying to smooth out the rough areas in the finish.
So now I'm wondering if I should do more of this, more carefully, before I wax it? Right now #2 has soaked in completely and while the wood is pretty and the slightly cloudy effect from #1 is gone, overall the finish is very dull. Maybe I overdid it with #1?
Thank you for all of your help, and any advice is appreciated!
Ellpea aka Pamela