Refinishing a dresser, how should I do it?
Question:Right now the dresser has a clear coat, and I want to take that off and stain it another color, I tried a gel to remove th clear coat but it did not really take it off. What should I do? thanks
Answers:
First off do your striping outside or in a well ventilated room.
You can sand it all by hand and not go out the money in expensive sanders, but you'll be in for some hard elbow grease.
You just need to understand the basics of the refinishing techniques used by most do-it-yourselfers.
Look first at products designed to clean and restore antique furniture without refinishing, and always test such products in an inconspicuous area before use. It may be that the old finish itself contributes to the value of the furniture.
When refinishing furniture, you must do the most unpleasant part of the job first. Removing the old finish. Once you get to the point of finally sanding the wood, you will have graduated from making a mess to creating a masterpiece.
You can remove old paint and varnish in a couple of different ways, primarily by sanding and by the use of chemical strippers. Heat guns can also be used for stripping and are sometimes used as a supplement to the other methods in the removal of a particularly stubborn finish.
Sanding is a good method only if you have good sanding equipment and are experienced in the use of such equipment. If you are trying to remove an old finish by hand sanding or with a common orbital finishing sander, you will work yourself into a puddle and waste a lot of sandpaper. On the other hand, belt and disk sanders can remove finishes quickly, but since they are capable of removing so much material, you must be very careful not to disfigure the piece by sanding too deeply. It is also difficult to sand varnish from round or decoratively curved areas such as turned table legs.
Depending on how good a job you were able to do with the stripper, you may not have a lot of sanding to do. Just start with 120 grit paper to clean off any finish which may remain and to smooth out any bad places in the wood. Then smooth the whole piece down with 220 grit paper. Finishing sanders are particularly good for quickly achieving a uniform smoothness. When sanding by hand, be sure to sand with the grain.
The quality of your final finish depends largely upon the care you take when sanding. No amount of stain or varnish will correct a bad sanding job. In fact, stain will emphasize any rough places, swirl marks or other defects. Take the time to do a good job. It makes a big difference.
Apply sanding sealer! It is like priming the wood. The sealer reduces the tendency of some woods to absorb stain unevenly. Sealing end-grain prevents the wood from absorbing too much stain and creating very dark areas. Sealer can also be applied after staining and filling to reduce the number of finish coats which will be necessary.
You are almost certainly going to be using stain to achieve the color you desire and to reduce the contrasts between different wood varieties which may have been used in the construction of the furniture. There are several different types of stains and dyes which may be used to color wood.
Always follow the manufacturer's recommendations for the product you are using. In general, liquid stains are applied with a rag or brush and allowed to penetrate into the wood. The longer the stain is allowed to penetrate, the darker the color will be. This only works to a certain extent, however. The excess stain is then wiped off with a clean rag and the piece is allowed to dry. If a darker finish is desired, these steps are repeated.
Good luck and enjoy your restored furniture!
You're in for a lot of work, as the clear coat will have "sealed" the grain in the wood to some depth beneath the surface.
Therefore you will need to sand every square inch of the surfaces to a depth deep enough to get down to wood fibers that will accept stain. Even then, you may be surprised by the results -- depending on the type of wood, some parts of the grain may have allowed the clear coat to penetrate further. Those areas will not stain as dark as more porous spots. This may or may not produce an appearance that is pleasing.
Put on paint remover such as Citristrip, it is much less obnoxious than MEK. Put it on one day, put more on the next day in the morning, and strip it in the afternoon. Stain depends on the color you want and wood you have. If it is maple, about all that will stain it, because it is so closed grain, is dyes. Oak can be stained with just about any type you like such as gel stain, which is easy to work with. Put a couple coats of polyurethane on top as it is tough.
you should be having problems scraping out taht clear coat. apply paint remover, scrape off paint, sand, apply paint remover, wipe with rug, sand, do it until its all gone. then you stain it
Some of the old (and new too) furniture has a very thin laminate of wood over the top of a less desirable wood product. Make sure this is not the case as all your work could lead to a bigger problem with no real solution rather than an expensive re-lamination job. Otherwise, it is stripper and a lot of elbow grease as stated earlier.
It depends on what the clear coat is. If it's shellac, turpentine will strip it, or if you don't know, try the least caustic paint remover first. You will probably have to sand the stain to take the color down, and depending on the color, you may or may not be able to get the color you want. I'd take a drawer into an unfinished furniture store. A good experienced salesperson knows different wood types and finishes and can give you some good suggestions and advice.
I have not used this product only because I do not use chemicals to remove old finish or paints - I use sanding as my only method.
This claims to be odorless stripper.
http://www.readystripsales.com/...
Once your down to the bare wood:
1. Use a wood filler to deal with scratches, scrapes, gouges ect. it will make a real difference in the end. Allow this to dry entirely.
2. Sand with 100 Grit to get it all level and kind of smooth, then sand with 150 Grit.
3. Sand with 220 Grit to get really smooth
4. Sand in the direction of the grain with #000 steel wool to knock down anything that is raised such as, fibers - one direction only.
5.Stain the wood if you desire to - do this in several coats if needed to get where you want it to be.
6. After the final coat of stain is taken care of go over it lightly with that steel wool one last time, do not keep going over it excessively - and do go only in one direction with the grain. Not the left to right and right to left - I only go left to right.
7. You really want to make certain at this point there is no dust at all and nothing left behind by the steel wool.Remember anything you leave now " Will Show" in the end.
8. The finish, Polyeurathane is a popular one, it is a hard finish that some say has a plastic kind of look to it- I would not call it that- think hardwood floors.
My personal favorite is the Minwax polycrylic it is a water based - and it gives a great finish without that real hard type effect.
If you have spray equipment you may consider a Laquer finish, and there are brush on Laquers too, but precations need to be taken for these. I'm going start test on this next week and a few others products.
An old time favorite by many is Linseed Oil, it depends on the type of durability you require.water resistant, scratch resistant ..etc.You'll learn a lot on minwax's web site.http://www.minwax.com
Also remember before you stain you can mix stains to make a custom stain if you wish. Use something that has a nice red tint to it, with an oak stain and you'll have a nice dark product that has that reddish tint in there. Keep track of your proportions for the future ( write it somewhere on the piece on an unfinished section).
I always use a belt sander for the main areas, for areas with a lot of detail I use my Rotary Tool with a sanding drum in it, and combine hand sanding with these methods. But I do not like to use the chemicals at all - this is just a preference thing. If sanding all by hand start with 80 grit sandpaper for main removal - move to 100 grit for minor removal then follow above directions.
You will be "Totally Blow Away" by the difference the steel wool will make - and it don't cost a lot. Be certain to use the wood filler and steel wool, even if you don't use a conditioner - sometimes I don't 'cause I want the uneven effect.
Everything depends on what the clear coat is made of!
If it is shellac, alcohol will take it off as will virtually all paint removers.
If it is varnish, paint removers will take it off
If it is lacquer, lacquer thinner or paint removers will take it off.
If it is a latex, or water based varnish, paint thinner will take it off.
But if it happens to be a really old piece and the clear coat is made of MILK - yes, comes from a cow - you have a serious problem. Some tell me that ammonia will take it off, but the only sure way of getting it off from my experience is dynamite.
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