Strip furniture yourself?

You can strip furniture yourself but make sure you know what is involved before you start.
First thing you will need is the proper place to strip you furniture, a good place would be in a garage if it is well ventilated. You should probably have plenty of newspaper to lay under your project because the hand stripping fluids use a wax to hold the chemicals to your furniture during the stripping process.

Now that you have you area all set up you need to decide on what type of hand stripper to use. I have over the past 20 years tried many but the best one I always go back to is Stripeeze - there is others that may work as well and some may be more eco friendly but this is the one I use. A gallon of furniture stripping fluid will cost about $25 on up. You will also need lacquer thinner to clean up the wax residue left behind from the stripping fluid. Be sure to read all of the warnings and instructions on the label before you attempt to use the stripping fluid. You will need a paint brush to apply the furniture stripping fluid, and a putty blade to remove the old finish and paint with. You should also put some neoprene gloves on before you handle the stripping fluid.

Now that you have your materials and you are all set up, apply the hand stripper to the piece of furniture per the directions on the stripping fluid can. you will need to let the stripping fluid soak for a while, the amount of time will depend on many factors, such as what type of paint or varnish you are stripping and how many coats of paint may be on the furniture. If paint was applied over a varnish it will be easier than if someone painted on the bare wood. After the stripping fluid has soaked long enough and your finish has lifted and been broken down you can use the putty blade to lift and remove the waxes and finishes off, be sure to use the blade and take finishes off with the grain of the wood. You may find it necessary to apply more than one coat of stripper to remove the finish from your furniture.

Once you have the finish off as good as you can get you need to remove the waxes that were left behind from the hand stripper. Some can be rinsed down with water, and others need to be removed with lacquer thinner and steel wool. After you have completed your wash off process all finish and paint should be removed. you should let the furniture dry for 24 hours to make sure all of the water or lacquer thinner have dried out completely. You are now ready to sand, stain and refinish your furniture.

The furniture stripping process is a messy task, there are companies like Doll Furniture Company Inc. in Normal Illinois that do professional furniture stripping and furniture refinishing. It may be something you want to consider if you don't think you want to take on a job like this. Just look in you phone book under furniture restoration and see if there is a local company that does this work, before you have them do the work get some references to make sure they are a reputable company.