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Furniture Refinishing & Restoration

How to refinish and restore wood furniture, antiques, cabinets, and architectural woodwork.

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Main Navigation Home Page Q&A Forum Articles Define Antique Is Refinishing Bad? Repair vs. Refinish Cleaning Antiques Stripping Furniture

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Does Refinishing Ruin the Value? A lot of people believe that antiques and older pieces of furniture should never be refinished... they say it's strictly taboo and will ruin the value if you alter the existing finish. Is this rule always true or are there exceptions? Hear what the experts at Antiques Roadshow have to say about it in this article - Does Refinishing Antiques Ruin the Value?

How to Strip Wood Furniture and Cabinetry

How to Strip Wood Furniture

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Poorly painted stool
Here's a little stool that was saved from the trash. It had a poorly done paint job, but was sturdy so it seemed worth saving. There's no telling what kind of wood is under the paint, so a quick stripping was needed to see if it was going to be re-painted or get a clear coat finish.

Paint bubbled and wrinkled
A good coat of stripper quickly bubbled and wrinkled the finish showing it was ready to come off.

After first round of stripping
The softened paint was removed with a stiff bristle natural brush and washed down with lacquer thinner. Once cleaned to this point, it was clear that paint was stuck in the corners and crevices of the wood and needed a little more work.

Paint stuck in the corners and crevices
In the close-up, you can see the crevices that are holding the paint. The corners had the same problem.

Removing paint from crevices
After re-wetting the affected areas with stripper, a 1/2" natural bristle brush with the bristles cut short to make them stiff was used to scrub the remaining paint out of the corners and crevices. For the stubborn spots, rounded toothpicks were used to dig out the last of the paint.
A final washdown with lacquer thinner and clean rags finished the stripping process.

With a new cherry colored finish, the stool is done
After letting the stool dry overnight, a new finish was applied.
Now all it needs is a piece of 3/4" plywood covered with a piece of foam and cloth to complete the project!

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