On Aug 13, 12:56 pm, "Toller" wrote:
I am trying to strip a black coating off of bamboo. (made in the Philappeans 60 years ago). I have tried alcohol, acetone, and lacquer
thinner. None touch it.

Most of that "less expensive" stuff was finished with some blend of
lacquer. It may have enough Pledge (silicones, etc.) of Johnson's wax
(carnuaba and in some blends silicones), Trewax, or anything else that
has been applied over the years to skew a test on the finish.

The classic test for lacquer is to put a big drop on the finish and
see if it dissolves over a 15 - 30 minute period. But if there were
some post catalysing agents added... no telling. Some of the post
cats are really hard.

Try to find an inconspicuous place, and put a small piece of cotton
cloth soaked with lacquer thinner on it and leave it for an hour. If
that starts to melt the finish you know what you have.

Next thing to try is Paint and Varnish Stripper (unless anyone has other suggestions). It say to hose the stuff off after application. How will
bamboo react to being hosed off?!

Old, completely dried organic materials usually don't do well being
"hosed" off.

Regardless of what your testing might find for you, you can probably
get the old finish off with Bix in the orange/black can. I think it
is called K5 or something like that and is available at HD. Stripease
makes a pretty good stripper too at the top of their product line. It
is the one that comes out of the can pinkish orange.

When I refinish old organic surfaces (read: wood doors and jambs) I
use different strippers, but you will find your technique holds the
key to successful stripping. Go down to the library or bookstore and
check out the old method of using sawdust as your abrasive to clean
off melted material rather an using a putty knife.

After stripping and sanding, I use a rag soaked in the cheapest,
crappy lacquer thinner I can find like Crown or Sunnyvale to clean the
surface. Clean evenly and don't leave any buildup behind and you will
get a good, bondable substrate using that method.

Robert