Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

TilliamWe

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I bought this couch and matching chair and want to remove the dark finish completely. I then want to clear over the natural wood. (I will be putting these in a room with a naturally light pine looking panelling)

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This part I have already used a [aint stripper designed for cars (spray on) it works ok, but not great. There seems to be a really thick finish on the wood:

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I saw some wood strippers at Wal-Mart today that you brush on and are gel-like. Is that the way to go? One said it could take up to 1 hour to loosen, another said 30 minutes. Are these the best and fastest? or is there some nasty liquid solvent I could apply and not have to scrape everything? Of course there are a ton of curves and hard to get to places!

Thanks in advance.
 

Bob_VT

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Re: Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

Stripper with MEK, steelwool, and a few wallboard scrapers. The toughest places will be by the joints.

I have seen those stripper wheels for drills that have the impregnated fibers of nylon or rubber but I have never used one.
 

eaglejim

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Re: Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

The best way is a dip and strip shop,the problem you have is stain soaks in to the wood and over the counter stuff is sometimes not strong enough need to remember that in most cases you are going thru at least 2 coats of sealer before you ever get to the stain,Dad's Easy Spray is the strongest I have used.
Here's another thought after you have taken as much off as you can pressure wash it with 15degree tip and let dry for a couple of days
 

itsaboattime

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Re: Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

Zip-Strip. It'll take the stripes off a zebra!! It is a brush on gel stripper. leave it on anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. You'll be able to scrape most of the old finish off with a putty knife and steel wool. It should be able to get the old stain out too. Use this stuff outside. It will get you loooooopy!! And use rubber or Latex gloves. It does a number on bare hands. From experience!!! After all your stripping is done wipe it down really well with Laquer Thinner and let it dry for at least 24 hours. Should be ready for refinishing.

Those dip and strip shops usually end up causing a big pain in the rear. When they dip your funiture, the glue in the joints, depending on what it is, takes a beating. You may end up with loose fitting joints and have to reglue the whole thing.
 

TilliamWe

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Re: Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

Thanks guys. I am planning to partially disassemble the two, cause the stairwell to my former attic (now the game room) is ridiculously narrow. I was just barely able to get a 32" TV up there! But I was only planning to unscrew where possible, not unglue.
I think Zip-Strip is what I saw at Wal-Mart. Gloves are a check. Outside is a check, although I will move it off my carpeted from porch to the yard in back, before I go ruining the carpet!
eagle, I am not super concerned about what has soaked into the wood. I have one armrest, kinda done, and I can live with the color.
I also have a pressure washer, so I can try that after I'm done stripping. I don't have Laquer Thinner, would Mineral Spirits work? Or would that mess up any clear coat I want to apply?
 

NSBCraig

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Re: Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

The problem with dipping them is some parts soak up to much and will never look good again.

I personally prefer a more liquid stripper then gel though.

When your done use a sanding sealer first then lacquer.

When I worked at Strip-Ease refinishing furniture we always mixed any color (stain) that we added to a coat of lacquer after sealing the part with sealer and one coat of lacquer, that way you can just sand it off if you need to.
 

itsaboattime

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Re: Fast,easy way to strip wood furniture?

mineral spirits will probly work just fine. The laquer thinner just evaporates faster and is less "oily", if you know what I mean. Do you plan on using Polyurathane to finish? I'm thinking two to three coats of a nice satin or semigloss. Thats just me tho. lol
 
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