What's the best way to strip an old finish from an old dresser?
by
Jami Harris
I have an old wooden bureau that's just been sitting in my garage. It belonged to my late sister. I've been wanting to redo it in memory of her. In other words, a style and hardware that reminds me of her. I don't want to use paint, I want to strip the old finish and restain it. What is the easiest way to strip the old stain?
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i would find a pro refinishing shop, and ask them to "dip strip it". they generally have big vats of furniture stripping solution. no scraping, no stinky fumes, no potentially caustic chemicals in your property. since the piece is stripped all areas at once- there should not be any color differences on the dipped piece.
depending on how old the piece is, you might have to go to a restoration hardware catalog to find hardware for it. as the years go by many manufactures have changed the hardware to different sizes from yesteryear's standards. i refer to it as planned "obsolescence". i went to put different pulls on my kitchen drawers. none of the new stuff matched the width of the previous holes. they are still catching my belt loops. the refinishing shop should have access to period or reproduction hardware. they should be able to date the piece- if it is a valuable or rare antique refinishing may devalue its monitory worth.
There are lots of products available for home stripping and the amount of work to do it will depend upon the overall condition of the piece and whether you want to get to bare wood. Once the finish is gone, go over the piece with a palm sander to smooth any imperfections. If you are looking to keep the colour similar to the existing you don't necessarily need to get to bare wood. Good luck