Getting rid of cigarette smell

johnhardy | Posted in General Discussion on July 1, 2003 09:53am

I just took delivery of an old wooden file cabinet (an antique) and it was used by an older couple who (no surprise) smoked heavily. The cabinet has a distinct smoky smell which is very distasteful to me.

What’s the best way to get rid of this? I had a friend pick it up for and prior to shipping he let it sit in his shop, with the drawers open, to air out for 6 months.

Thanks in advance. I’m stumped and don’t want to do something that would make the problem worse or destroy a nice antique.

John

Replies

KyleZ | Jul 01, 2003 10:09pm | #1
Shellac it.
BertJ | Jul 01, 2003 10:39pm | #2
John,

Take all the drawers out and wipe it all down (inside and out) with a generous amount of mineral spirits.

BJ
JohnWW | Jul 02, 2003 12:27am | #3
I don't know how much it would cost, but it's probably not all that expensive, but a fire restoration company would be able to remove the smell. You can find them in the Yellow Pages, through a home insurance agent or probably through your local fire department.

John W.
DaveHeinlein | Jul 02, 2003 12:46am | #4
Clean it, then shellac it.

johnhardy | Jul 02, 2003 01:37am | #5
Thanks for the responses. I'll try the mineral spirits and if that doesn't work I'll shellac it. I'll post the results.

John

ehBeth | Jul 02, 2003 02:01am | #6
The fire restoration companies will often sell you air sponges that work quite well. I work in insurance and got a bunch from one of our vendors. It fixed up an old, stinky cabinet I needed to get the odor out of, before it could come into my house. I think some of the old-fashioned types of hardware stores still carry air sponges as well. If you can't play a sport, be one.

Steinmetz | Jul 02, 2003 03:00am | #7
John, Rent an ozone generator. Place both the cabinet and the ozone generator in a closed room, tent or closet for 24 to 48 hours and all traces of smoke should disapear. An old friend of mine who was in the auto upholstery business showed me how he would rid a whole car (which had had it's interior upolstery burnt out in a fire.

The O G was the size of a suit case . He pluged it in to a wall outlet placed it into the auto,closed it'sdoors and windows,and on a friday night locked up his shop for the weekend. I was there on monday and you couldn't smell a thing.

Some of those electronic air fresheners work on the same principle, but are light weights compared to the 'pro' job. Stein

Edited 7/1/2003 8:04:47 PM ET by steinmetz