On Saturday, April 6, 2013 1:28:24 AM UTC-6, Coyote-Rain wrote:
Any advice for my confusion (besides medication?

Cleaning is a given, as a first step, so beyond that, not all restorations start with stripping, but this seems to be your focus, here.

If you need a wire brush with your stripper, then you're using the wrong/inefficient stripper. A good stripper doesn't need the help of a "wire" brush. I use a good stiff plastic brush, but more as a cleaner/scraper of the stripped gunk/residue. It doesn't scratch the wood. A small hard tooth brush gets into nooks, crannies and carvings better than a large brush and certainly doesn't scratch the delicate wood of fine edges, typical of carvings, especially. Rinse with mineral spirits, once with dripping scrub brush once with a wet rag.

If no further repairs are needed, then prior to finishing, a wipe down with acetone, naptha or maybe denatured alcohol, depending on the previous finish, is often applied, then the finishing begins.

Beyond the stripping stage, restoration is dictated by what else may be "wrong" with the piece.

Sonny