Some of you may know that I spent many years in the restoration of antique furniture.  In so doing I learned alot about how furniture wears and habits of furniture use.  This knowledge forms the basis of my approach to design and fabrication.  No matter how well built the joinery, or durable the material, everything we own requires maintenance.  With proper care furniture can handle normal use and abuse and grow more attractive as a result.  

First, a few comments on how we live with our furniture.  We stand on chairs, and lean back on them.  We jump on beds, push furniture out of the way for cleaning or parties.  Drinks and food are placed on flat surfaces..sometimes for longer than intended.  When we move we struggle to pack them into moving vehicles..and then struggle them into and out of our homes.  Our animals bite and scratch them, our vacuum cleaners ram them again and again and again.  Children throw things at them, play on them, in them.  Sometimes we take them from our climate controlled houses and put them in the garage or some lonely storage unit.  All this activity leads to some fairly predictable wear.  Loose joints, rings, stains, dents, squeeks. splits, and sometimes lost parts.

I'm not going to lecture on what you do with your furniture.  If you want to jump on the bed or lean back on chairs..fine.  Is this behavior bad?  Yes.  Furniture joinery is held together with glue, pins, and screws, etc.  Vibration and racking (leaning back on chairs, pushing heavy dressers across the room) put a large amount of strain on these joints.  Poorly made furniture will succumb to this racking faster than well made furniture, but; eventually joints will grow looser and looser.  Joinery repair tends to be among the most expensive projects to undertake. Poorly done joint repair (irresponsible use of screws, dowels or glue) may make the problem go away on the short term, but; will make future repairs more difficult and expensive.  If you have to move furniture, pick it up.  Get help.  If it breaks..consult a pro.  

On the simpler end..what about keeping furniture attractive?  Perhaps your furniture leads a fairly static life and jumping and shoving aren't an issue.  Keeping furniture looking good is probably the most common challenge we face.  This is the easy part.  At the store you're going to see dozens of products made specifically for polishing furniture or rubbing out scratches.  Many of these products contain silicone...and silicone is bad.  Eventually the polish won't polish anymore.  A cloudy appearance may develop on the finish.  Silicone presents a host of problems for repairers and refinishers.  It is a surface contaminant and will develop into a layer of dirt and grime all it's own that must be removed through the use of chemicals..which may damage the finish further.

An alternative, and a much better one, is wax.  Simple paste wax.  Much of the luster and patina you see on antiques is dirt and wax.  Wax will not harm furnishings.  Beeswax is waterproof and will help to offset the effects of water and other common wear.  Mineral Spirits will clean it off, it's cheap, easy to use, and a common household item than can be found in a number of local stores.  Every finish and species of wood reacts a little differently to wax.  Experimentation and use will teach you everything you need to know.  Don't use a lot..a little is ample.  The technique (and the product) is not too dissimilar from polishing shoes.  Brown wax for brown furniture, clear wax for blonde, etc.  Using a soft cloth buff the furniture with wax.  Scratches and blemishes can often be repaired with wax.  How long you leave the wax before buffing requires a little intuition.  The longer you leave it the thicker and harder the coating becomes.  I generally buff with wax, leave for five minutes and then buff.  You can use a clean cloth or a shoe polish brush (this is great for carvings and verticle or small parts) to buff.  Sometimes one coat is enough, though; I generally use two.  

Try dusting furniture with a very, very lightly dampened cloth.  For more stubborn marks or stains use a very small amount of detergent in your water and wipe and dry.  I recommend waxing wooden furniture (do not put wax on textiles) twice a year..more for heavily used items.  Always dust prior to waxing.  When you dust a light touch is best..don't scrub or saturate with water or detergent.  

Johnsons Paste Wax, TreWax, Mylands are all good common brands.  Avoid Briwax as it has many harsh chemicals and is a much more aggressive product than those mentioned above.  If you have furniture of many different colors try keeping small cans of shoe polish on hand for coloring blemishes or polishing out defects.  Be sure to read labels and familiarize yourself with the product and all necessary warnings and storage requirements.  Keep waxy cloth seperate from others and do not try to clean them.  In fact, it's best to store the waxing cloths with the wax and use it for no other purpose.