Refinished Vintage Card Catalog

This antique card catalog got a modern update by stripping the old finish and highlighting the quartersawn oak finish.

Refinishing a piece of antique or vintage furniture doesn’t always require a huge change in the look. Instead of painting or covering the original wood on this card catalog, I decided to remove the old finish and give it a clean update. Because it didn’t have legs or a top to start, I decided to give this vintage card catalog a slightly modern look with the addition of these elements.

I found this card catalog tucked under boxes in the garage at an estate sales. It was several years ago, but I think I got it for $25. (Can you believe that?!) However, some of the drawers wouldn’t close properly, and it was just a box without a top or legs. (After posting this project on YouTube and TikTok, I’ve learned that this was a stacking cabinet, probably the middle section of a larger cabinet, which is why it didn’t have legs or a top!)

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Supplies to Refinish Vintage Furniture

• Citri-strip
• Orbital sander
• sanding discs variety pack (120-150 for stripping and 220-300 for final sanding)
• Natural wood stain
• General Finishes Arm-R-Seal
• 16″ hairpin legs

Steps to Refinish Vintage Oak Furniture

Removing the old finish from vintage wood highlights the natural beauty and gives it a new, clean look. Here are the steps to restore this vintage card catalog:

1. Clean brass hardware

I have a full post on how to clean brass hardware where I test out four different ways to clean up old, tarnished furniture hardware. Spoiler alert: my favorite method is to use ketchup! Just be aware, no matter what you use to clean old hardware, if it’s left in the cleaner for too long, it can damage the brass and remove the zinc which turns it into copper.

2. Remove old finish

The dark, dirty finish on this card catalog was hiding the beautiful wood grain of this quartersawn oak. To highlight the original beauty, I stripped it down using Citristrip, cleaned it with mineral spirits, and then sanded the wood down to its natural state. This post gives a full tutorial on how to strip and sand wood furniture to reveal the natural beauty of the wood.

3. Refinish the raw oak

To accentuate the quartersawn oak but not add too much darkness, I chose to use wood stain in the color Natural. After one coat of stain, I sealed it with General Finishes Arm-R-Seal which is one of my favorite products for refinishing natural wood.

4. Add tops, legs and hardware

Originally, I wanted to add an oak top to this card catalog and finish it in the same color as the base. However, when I priced out pieces of oak it would have been almost $50. I could have saved some money by making my own top with planks of wood which would have brought down the cost by about $20. Instead, I found a piece of edge glued pine in my garage left over from when I made tables for my pop up camper and cut it down to size to use as the top for now.

For the legs, I used 16″ I-Semble hairpin legs from Rockler. Amazon does sell hairpin legs as well, but after reading many reviews, these Rockler legs seemed to be far superior in quality. Although I can’t compare them to the legs sold on Amazon, I was very impressed with their stability and quality. They even have small adjustable feet to easily level the furniture. This makes them perfect for table legs!

The Reveal

Although the black top isn’t nearly as pretty as an oak top, I think it actually gives it a slightly modern feel to this card catalog and works well with the hairpin legs.

Quartersawn oak is my favorite type of wood on antique furniture! I sanded down the tops and sides of some of the drawers that originally got stuck. They all now slide easily!

Right now, we’re using it as a TV stand in our basement (which sort of feels like a waste of a beautiful piece of furniture). But, it does hold our Switch controllers, games, and remotes well!

Others on social media have mentioned that they would use the drawers in this vintage card catalog to store tea, sewing supplies, cosmetics, and craft supplies. Everyone agrees that if you evet stumble upon an antique card catalog at the right price, snag it up, as they are getting harder and harder to come by!