Furniture Finish Care Madness ?? Help from a pro

I cant seem to get any kind of a good polished look on any of my antiques.
I work in Interior Design, and I get to see great antiques, always with great finishes, polishes, smudge free surfaces, or a perfectly matte or satin sheen.

This is my piano...after Howard polish, then howard restore-a-finish, and then their feed-n-wax. It doesnt seem to matter what products I use, I cant get the finish buffed out, and it picks up finger prints like crazy. What am I doing wrong?
The finish here does have a lot of wear visible....and smudges. It just looks nothing like nice polished furniture I see in the feild.

 

@daveydempsey

 

Whatever you are using, it works with the finish that was on the piece in the first place. That may be the issue.

 

Ive ALWAYS wondered about this ! I think the fine furniture you see in mansions and the like are french polished or something.

 

I would make sure any finish you have put on is completely dry. Then, go over it with a fine abrasive finishing pad to even out the finish and remove imperfections. Once done, use a tack cloth to clean up any dust. Apply a coat of paste furniture wax and buff out. This should improve the look, assuming the existing finish has good integrity.

 

Im not even specifically talking about polished surfaces. Even satin, and matte finishes; they all look great. No smudges. Even on finishes that have wear and imperfections.

I used 0000 steel wool with the restore a finish. I did it very lightly, and it definitely helped. The finish does have a lot of wear. Is there a specific pad I should use? I assume the come in differing abrasive abilities.

 

What about stripping the products completely off. It probably has 60 years of pledge on it. Are there products for that? I really couldnt find anything on youtube about removing wax/paste. Starting over with known products would be great.

 

Your 0000 steel wool or a pad equivalent should be fine enough. As I responded in your other thread, mineral spirits should remove any existing wax or polish.