Pickled Knotty Pine Paneling?

My ranch house was built in the 50's, and the den has knotty pine paneling. I'm not sure that it's that old, but it appears to have been pickled at some point. It's a pale color almost like unfinished planks, but there looks to be white "stuff" in the grain and in the knots especially. It's very dull and I'd like to refinish it. Anyone have any experience with this? I've thought about just going over it with shellac so as not to darken it much (the room is under a porch overhang and doesn't get much light, so I want to keep it as light as possible, but I HATE the idea of painting over the wood). Thanks!

 

Welcome to the diy forums

Assuming you don't want to strip and completely refinsh the wood, cleaning, lightly sanding and applying a fresh coat of polyurathane should brighten and freshen it up. Fresh poly will help it to reflect light making the room a little brighter.

 

What mark said, but the most important first step should be a thorough cleaning to remove years of dust and dinge. Getting the old finish out of the knots and deep grain is very difficult, but it does add some character. That may be all that is needed. If you don't want to change the color, the best thing to use is a water based polyurethane. It dries clear and does not yellow like most other products.

 

I know I'm old school but I'd be leary of applying a water based coating over what is most likely an oil base coating without a lot of heavy duty sanding.

As Bill said, cleaning is important, not just to remove dirt but any wax/polish that may have been applied over the years.