OT: What is the best furniture stripper
Gutterboy
Gutterboy
-----------------
"Don't you care about CHILDREN?" -- Dr. L@ura Sch!essinger
CL55logan
>I just bought an "antique" art deco kitchen table set. One chair has a
>broken
>back that has been stapled together, and the previous owner started stripping
>the decorative red paint strip from another of the chairs.< .
I'm no expert, though:
Be careful if the set has any veneer strips or decorative moldings glued on--
the chemical strippers can warp and ruin these.
I've tried to use the environmentally safe products and found them to be
weak...maybe you can get the stronger stuff (make sure you have ventilation)
and do a test on place that doesn't show?
Good luck, Cathy
KMWARD
book on the subject is still George Grotz' _The Furniture Doctor_. It's an
entertaining read, too.
Probably if the set was originally painted, there's no veneer to worry about.
If you have paint to deal with (but only one or two layer), I'd go with the
orange-derived stripper you can get at the hardware store. It's thick, which
is an advantage on the legs (less dripping), you can use a plastic wide
"scraper" (less chance of scratching), and it requires only a water scrub-off.
While it still burns your skin on prolonged contact, it isn't as caustic as the
old Stipeez stuff (I go way back in furniture refinishing). Wear gloves and
work someplace with ventilation. It also doesn't darken the wood--an
advantage if the wood turns out to be interesting enough to be clear-finished.
Good luck. This can be a fun project.
Kathleen Ward
Adrienne
furniture refinishing, as I have an end table that needs work, and I've not done
it before. They suggest strippers that contain NMP (n-methyl pyrolidone or BLO
(gamma butyralactone), but they work slowly. Unfortunately, they apparently are
also expensive, and require safety goggles and lots of ventilation. According to
this paper, they day that DBE (dibasic ester) strippers are safer, but could raise
the grain of the wood or loosen veneers, and that lye is the oldest, cheapest,
most effective chemical stripper, and the only one that works to remove milk
paint.
The pamphlet also suggests a very inexpensive, non-toxic method of stripping
paint: Sandpaper! They mentioned that if one is careful, a power sander would be
a quick way to get any finish off of a flat surface. Hand sanding was recommended
for uneven surfaces. You could probably borrow or rent a power sander. I think
this will be the way I will go with my end table. I have a good friend who has
lots of power tools I can borrow. I might even be able to get him to do the
surface for me, as I am inept when it comes to that sort of thing. :-) Plus, it
will remove all little catcall indents on the surface.
Good luck, and have fun!
Adrienne
Woof Ridge wrote:
> I just bought an "antique" art deco kitchen table set. One chair has a broken
> back that has been stapled together, and the previous owner started stripping
> the decorative red paint strip from another of the chairs. Since the set is
> pretty much ruined as far as being in good original condition, I'm thinking of
> stripping off all of the finish and restoring it to it's natural color.
>
> For previous, less important projects, like junk end tables, I've always just
> bought a Formby's kit from Walmart. I think that this set deserves the best I
> can give it, however. Anyone with experience who can give brand
> recommendations?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Woof
> --
> "ANYTHING would be good fried with onions, Hronn."
> ---Gutterboy, referring to placenta
John & Mari Morgan
wrote:
>I just bought an "antique" art deco kitchen table set. One chair has a broken
>back that has been stapled together, and the previous owner started stripping
>the decorative red paint strip from another of the chairs. Since the set is
>pretty much ruined as far as being in good original condition, I'm thinking of
>stripping off all of the finish and restoring it to it's natural color.
>
>For previous, less important projects, like junk end tables, I've always just
>bought a Formby's kit from Walmart. I think that this set deserves the best I
>can give it, however. Anyone with experience who can give brand
>recommendations?
If you want the low-cost but slow method, nothing beats a plain old
scraper, sandpaper (that new "Mouse" mini-sander looks like it'd be
terrific for projects like this), and steel wool. If the paint is
really stubborn, try a heat gun to soften it pre-scraping, but don't
set fire to your furniture! (Heat guns can be had for about $35 from
hardware stores, but you can also rent 'em.) Takes forever, but works
best of all IMO. One of the best things about it is the lack of
cleanup, so you can pick up and drop the task whenever you have a few
minutes on your hands. And no toxic gunk to worry about disposing of.
Also, I've found in a few cases that not getting every trace of the
finish remover off the piece before putting the new finish on can
really screw up the new finish. Nasty!
3M makes a fume-free stripper that I think is pretty good if you do
need a chemical stripper. I think it's named something lame and
obvious like "Safe Strip" but a hardware store person should know. Big
bonus in not having to work outside or with a gazillion fans going,
with thick gloves and respirators and all that stuff. But it's still
very messy and IMO winds up being a Serious Project instead of a
little task to play around with when you have time. :-)
Mari
-
"There are all kinds of courage... It takes a great
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