You will probably need to remove the furniture’s finish whether you plan to stain it or leave it natural. Here you will learn to wonder how to strip wood furniture. Although stripping furniture can be a dirty process, there are various methods you can use to refinish your lovely pieces. With a little perseverance, anyone can do these tasks, and which technique works best for your furniture?
A piece of furniture’s finish can be removed by sanding it, but to strip the finish, different chemicals like Citristrip, SmartStrip, and Easy-Off are included. You may select the right furniture remover after you know what kind of wood you’re working with. Let’s get started and discuss the many options and techniques for furniture stripping.
Useful Ways of Stripping Wood Furniture
Experts at Plush Furniture have shared some useful techniques to strip old furniture and refinish it. Simply put, stripping furniture eliminates the paint from furniture pieces. Each piece of furniture is unique, and some may have finishes that are challenging to remove.
One of the most professional ways is to remove the finish to reveal the gorgeous wood underneath. Identify the type of wood furniture you are working with first. You will only obtain excellent results from stripping the furniture if it is artificial, produced wood, like a piece from different brands. You should be okay if the foundation is made of solid wood. Stripping old wood furniture is one of the best techniques and requires all the important equipment.
As some solutions will harm the veneer, ascertain whether the piece has a veneer. Veneer wood pieces can be stripped, but you’ll need to proceed carefully and apply the right stripping chemicals. Removing the veneer is always possible, but remember that veneer is frequently used to hide unsightly, poorly-matched wood that forms a piece.
Various Furniture Stripping & Refinishing Techniques
Although there are other ways to strip furniture, these are the ones we use the most at home. The reality is you must know how to respond to that since occasionally, even though it is like a solution, try it on another piece of furniture, and it won’t work either.
Before moving on, you must abide by the warnings and inserts included with each product. When working with the following products, you must make sure you are properly protected as some call for specific safety measures.
1. Use of Citristrip
One of the most widely used products is citristrip, and for a good reason, it works incredibly effectively. It’s a fantastic alternative, but occasionally, it needs to be more powerful. It’s a fantastic product to use as a starting point because it’s less poisonous and damaging. Citristrip is simple to use; brush a coating on and wait 15 to 30 minutes before using.
The finish may occasionally peel off with the Citristrip after removing it. Use a scraper to remove the leftover material. Until the finish is completely removed, you can apply again. You may also buy Citristrip in a can and spray it on furniture. When removing a heavy topcoat or paint from solid-wood furniture, use Citristrip. The product you need if you want to remove paint is this one. Stripping wood furniture is quite easy.
2. Furniture refinisher by Minwax
This technique can easily remove old finishes like beeswax, lacquer, and varnish. This technique does not raise the wood grain. It had terrific success applying this technique on dated furniture with high-quality veneer.
This thin layer of exterior wood is not harmed when the veneer is delicately treated.
The previous finish will slowly disappear before your eyes as you rub it on in little circles. You need to move around and apply the finish as you go because it dissolves and tends to settle in other areas. Mineral Spirits can be used to clean up after, but carefully sanding the leftover finish gives the best results. Stripping a stained table required the same process for a smooth result.
Smart Way to Strip
Dumond makes Smart Strip Advanced Paint Remover, sold at various stores. Multiple layers of paint, varnish, stains, and coatings made of oil, latex, and acrylic can be removed using this solution. The product states that one application will eliminate all layers. Additionally, it is non-toxic, non-fuming, and environmentally friendly, which is a plus.
Having tried this product only once, I discovered that it required more than one application since it dried. In the same way as Citristrip, Smart Strip can be applied in a thick layer and then covered with plastic. This is extremely useful given how hot it is outside in our environment. The paint is then peeled off using a scraping tool. You will need to scrub the surface of a piece with details or spindles vigorously by stripping wood chairs and a strong brush.
Overall, this stuff removes paint effectively. This is a fantastic solution if you seek a safe product to strip furniture without hazardous fumes. This is great for working indoors, but be ready to scrub and clean the object to remove any residual paint. Additionally, use this outside to rinse the furniture with a water spray. Therefore, although being a cleaner product for the environment, it may not be clean
Klean-Strip Following-Wash
To remove any residual furniture stripper from a piece of furniture, use after wash as the last step. Will it occasionally take off the finish without a stripper solution? This technique may be effective if the furniture has a thin coat of varnish or finish. Apply the solution to furniture with a stripping pad and rub it in to eliminate the residue after pouring it into a bowl. Repetition is required, especially when stripping round pieces of wood.
Oven cleaner with Easy-Off
Easy-off is an oven cleaning and a furniture stripper. While not having much success removing paint with Easy-Off, It had great success removing varnish or stains from the furniture. This process is a simple and quick technique to give a sturdy piece of furniture a natural, bleached appearance.
Oven cleanser is powerful and should be used on something other than veneer because it will probably chew through artificial wood. The Fume-Free Easy-Off in blue works well. On the furniture, liberally spray oven cleaning and leave it there for ten to fifteen minutes. When cleaning the scrubbed, use the water with the brush so that it is clean in the best way; until the water flows clean, spray and wash.
Use of Heat
In the form of a butane torch, heat can remove furniture. The top layers of varnish peel off due to the heat gun’s extremely intense temperatures. If you think of removing the finish permanently, you can either apply the scrape or heat it continuously. Even while this technique works, you can only remove the stain and varnish when it’s hot. You must carry on the process as it dries.
Additionally, you must avoid leaving the heat gun in one location for too long, or the wood may burn. When trying to remove the veneer using this technique, stripping furniture paint, chunks of the veneer caught fire and started sparking. Safety is a must when using this technique with ancient wood and coatings.
Use of Soda-Blasting
This technique has gained popularity among do-it-yourselfers recently, and for a good reason, it’s an efficient way to strip furniture. To remove the finish, baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is applied under high pressure. A soda blaster machine, which may cost anywhere between a few dollars, is the first thing you’ll need.You have to decide what you have to do.
The investment depends on you, and it helps to increase the investment or depend on you for a one-time purchase. This is a fantastic approach to exploring every nuance and crack. However, the wood is easily damaged. Because it can be done to strip finish by sanding without dangerous chemicals, this method is favored by using chemicals.
Use of Furniture Sanding
Sanding furniture is one of my favorites because it is a surefire way to take the finish off. An orbital sander is a fantastic place to start to obtain the natural appearance of wood. You’ll succeed if you are aware of the various sandpaper grits.
When you use sandpaper, tiny grains are in it, which are very helpful in removing the rough surface from the course. Because lower grain sandpaper can through veneer and harm priceless wood, this is only sometimes important when removing the finish. Higher-grit sandpaper works best when working with wood and wiping out flaws.
Tools That Are Useful for Stripping Furniture
Furniture stripping will go faster and produce better results if the proper equipment is used. Try to have everything while starting the process; otherwise, it will interpret the process and delay it. It will be less frequent if you have everything you need because it’s never fun to go to the hardware shop in the middle of a project.
All the safety equipment is very important as the chances of danger, and harm is quite high while doing the process. Make sure you choose the appropriate safety supplies for your project by carefully reading the container’s back. Some of the goods need the use of a project brush.
This doesn’t have to be of excellent quality a basic project brush will do. There are few metals, and different glass dishes are convenient and easy to use. Avoid using plastic bowls because the chemicals will cause the plastic to react. It is useful for preventing the drying out of items like citristrip, so keep some on hand. Different kinds of scrapers and brushes are required to complete the process.
Moreover, a hard brush for usage in precise regions. Last but not least, before beginning, ensure the area is covered in plastic or a drop cloth. This work is a mess stripping an old oak buffet is very hard.
