Woodworking advice?

[danaeris]

In my quest to become a competent home owner, I'm deliberately stretching my boundaries by taking on projects.

My first one is this dresser I got from my brother, painted with yellow and blue paint ::shudder::

This weekend I hope to carry it up to the garage and strip the paint. The dresser is basically a rectangle, with no fancy details whatsoever.

My father already has some old paint stripper, no idea how old:

Circa 1850 Paint Stripper, mfg by 'Swing Paints' Montreal, Canada.
It is in gelled form so that it will not just drip off a vertical surface too easily and since it is corrosive a liquid would splash and could get in your eyes etc.

The can is almost full. Any reasons why I wouldn't want to use this stuff? For instance, if this stuff is wrong for use on low quality wood furniture, or paint stripper ages poorly, or the new paint strippers available nowadays are vastly easier to work with/more effective/safer?

Also, any tips on paint stripping from the brilliant woodworking geniuses on my friendslist?

Comments

[johno.livejournal.com]

From someone who has stripped furniture in the past...

Rule 1: Work in a well ventilated space. ie: Have the garage door open the entire time you are working on the dresser. Do not bring the item into living spaces (or shared ventilation) for several days after finishing, as you need to let the chemicals outgas for some time.

Rule 2: Fresh chemicals work better. The old stuff will probably work, but may take longer, will smell worse, probably be more toxic and might damage the wood.

Rule 3: Unless the instructions say otherwise, double the amount of time for the first layers to soak in. This makes removing the layers much easier.

Rule 4: No matter what they say on TV, in the directions, at the home center, stripping old furniture is HARD and TEDIOUS work. Prepare to be very sore and tired at the end of the day. Prepare to spend 2-3 times the time quoted in the directions to complete the project.

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Yes: VERY good ventilation

Furniture striping chemicals are some of the nastiest furniture things around.

What is the wood? If it is oak, it might mess up the grain. Never mind if you plan on painting/sanding afterwards.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the advice! I kept the garage door open as much as possible, like you suggested, and there weren't any problems. I DID have trouble with skin contact with the stripper though.

See, I wore what were advertised as thin latex gloves, and the stripper ate right through them, and started burning my skin before I washed my hand off. After that I let my father handle the stripper; he didn't seem to have any pain from the stripper the way I did.

Like you said, it was hard tedious work, but it was a great workout! This weekend I will do the drawers, and then the fun part: painting and decorating. :)

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

oops. I forgot completely about using this when I stripped the body. Maybe I'll try it with the drawers! Thanks for the tip.

dana's dresser

[http://users.livejournal.com/_duncan/]

Terpentine from 150 years ago. *very* cool.

Oh, nevermind. Turns out "Swing Paints" still exists and uses "Circa 1850" as a brand name. Their website depends on Flash and delivers about one sentence of content per page.

More interesting than getting the paint off is what to do with it later. Do you plan to paint it again, perhaps with little ornate details? If the grain looks attractive would you sand it and stain it and finish with an oil, a wax, an acrylic or a varnish? Would you apply veneer and then preserve that? Any interest in making little decorations out of different shades of veneer and sealing those under a faux edwardian walnut mirror finish?

Woodworking is fun as a hobby. Don't expect to recoup any value from the project other than knowing you've made something you enjoy having in the home.

Re: dana's dresser

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

It's a piece of crap, so I'm definitely not going to stain it. I have some ideas about how to make it pretty but none of them are solid enough to proceed. I think I may need to go visit the paint section in the hardware store before I can make any decisions. Maybe inspiration will strike!

[thespian.livejournal.com]

on April 28th, I believe the home depot at the Stockyards is having a person from Behr in to talk about all sorts of ways to refinish furniture. Apparently this person is making the rounds of the local Home Depots doing free demos, so you might want to check with your local one and see if they have them coming i.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

[lastmx.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I was on a mini-vacation with my French mistress (her words, not mine) visiting other cities in Japan.

My advice, enjoy the project, but bare in mind that furniture restoration is a bitch to do. See you online.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

No worries; just glad that you're having fun in Japan!

Indeed, see you online. :)