Those village craftsman are at it again..... I had a customer bring in a "handmade" carved piece that he wanted stripped. I said that it looked brand new so why strip it? He told me to smell it.....Uggggghhhh.... What is that smell? The whole piece felt "oily" so I wiped it with a clean paper towel. You could see what looked like tiny bits of aluminum in the blackish oil. I wiped off a good section of the carving and put it on the concrete and lit it with a lighter. What is our mystery oil? It's used motor oil. It seems that they cannot afford finishing oils in most poor countries. They know most people want an "oil finish" on the wood so they save their tractor and car crankcase oils and use that instead. So metal contaminated used motor oil adorns that beautiful carved Dolphin on the sofa table. Does that hand carved chair keep leaving grease on your favorite shirt..... If you run into any of this consider having us at least strip the items for you. We can degrease them as well as pull out the smells for proper refinishing......
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