I used to strip a lot of old stuff and love it back to life. Still have
several pieces of furniture in the house that were rescuees including my
(appx) 100 year old walnut dining room table that was painted blue and white
and a sideboard that I found to go with it that was pretty rough.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/m.../buffetb-4.jpg

Not the best "after" pic. Had to paint parts of it to hide the repairs from
a dog using it as a chew toy.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/m...uffetafter.jpg

After trying several "miracle products" with limited results I went back to
good old Jasco paint stripper.
Be sure to wear gloves (HF, blue, $9 a box, change often) cause it will burn
your skin.

Paint it on, gently scrape it off and then give it scrub bath with mineral
spirits and a scotch brite. Then a wash with something like cheese cloth or
a terry cloth towel soaked in mineral spirits or lacquer thinner.

A small soft brass brush works well in nooks and crannies. Just be gentle so
you don't scar the wood.

K.


"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
On 3/3/2010 11:18 PM blueman spake thus:

I need to strip the finish from some old furniture.
Someone suggested using Minwax Furniture Refinisher which supposedly
contains (among other things) alcohol, mineral spirits, and lacquer
thinner.

that doesn't even make sense if you think about it: that's like saying
"I have no frigging idea what that finish is, but if I just throw any
and all solvents at it, maybe it'll come off". (Assuming that that is
really what is in it; I have no idea.)

Alcohol will dissolve shellac, but nothing else. Lacquer thinner
(acetone + other stuff) will dissolve lacquer, but probably nothing
else, though it may damage paint or varnish. Mineral spirits, well,
won't dissolve anything really.

However, would I be better off just testing alcohol, mineral spirts, and
lacquer separately to see which ones best remove the old finish. The
theory being that it is better (and cheaper) to use the full-strength
version of the right solvent.

You could try alcohol and lacquer thinner to see whether the finish is
shellac (dissolved by alcohol) or lacquer, but if it's neither, you're
not even going to make a dent in it.

Sorry, you need to use some kind of real stripper here. Maybe that
Minwax stuff is it, but in that case, it has a lot more in it than the
ingrediments you mentioned.


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