"bent" wrote in message
...
NOTHING CUTS IT
Well I've done some scraping (claw scaper best) and sanding, and have
tried a few chemicals that are next to worthless. They sit on the
surface, bubble a bit, then when wiped off it just looks like a cleaning.
They will just melt a very thin top layer, but cannot cut down to the
wood, kinda like a spilled tequila. I am serious. Maybe after thirty
coats (liters). I tried the Oatey (with MEK) and $5 for 250mLLepage Poly
Super Strippa extra strength (with methylene chloride). Ive got half a
dozen things with methyl alcohol and the like, but its not even worth
opening the bottle. Total complete joke waste of time, as ever. Its much
better to attack with tools or sandpaper, no matter how affixed. Lots of
labour and only half done. So at least it wont be coming off anytime
soon. So I say again to anyone who needs to do this, good luck, youre
going to need it.

FLUSHING THE CHLORINE (WONT STICK)
Next pertinent ngQuestion. Like I said, especially where there has been
water exposure (you know what black wood looks like). I have concentrated
liquid chlorine from a pool, and lots of it, cheap. It bleaches that
black to a very bright white-like. But in the past after the few times
when I have done this the poly does not want to stick to it very well. It
literally just flakes (falls) off not long after. So can anyone recommend
a procedure, or series or neutralizing chemicals, or soaps or anything
please do. I have tried a blast of water and drying, but its just flakey.
I am open to any suggestions, however primitive. I have not done this
chlorine bleach test enough to remember how much water and how fast it
turns black, so that the flush doesnèt ruin the bleaching effect, but
again, after 25 years on this table its a black and white, with a little
gray area. This chlorine, which is stored indoors at pool stores in 6
foot Dia. by 12 foot high plastic silo containers, if splashed on jeans
(or anything) will turn that spot white, threadbare like silk within a
day, and soon be nothing but a round hole.

What I did learn this year is that one of the 2x12x8 pine boards got rain
& snow soaked all through the winter and is water logged, and it strips
much more completely and easily than the dry boards. I know now how to
make it bright agian, but now I need to learn or experiment on how to make
it hold a finish after that treatment. Ideas, anybody: a little chemistry
for a dummy.

To remove black stains on wood due to water exposure, try oxalic acid.
You can get this as deck brightener. Just look at the ingredients to be
sure. Assuming the black stains are not due to mold, they are due to the
reaction between the tannins in the wood and iron. Oxalic acid destroys the
complex so the black disappears.

As for the finish strippers not working perfectly the first time, you
have to keep at it. The bubbling suggests that they are working. No one
ever said, expect perhaps for the stripper salespeople, that stripping a
finish is easy and quick.

Good Luck.