Coyote-Rain wrote:


Short story:
There seems to be a lot of different ways to restore a wooden chair.
"Use stripper", "Never use stripper", "Use sandpaper", "Don't use
sandpaper, use steelwool", "No, don't use any abrassive, use oil and a
rag". There may be many reasons for this but is there a generally
acknowleged "best practices" for a certain set of wood restoration
projects?

My specifics (ie: the longer story)
I've started taking my first wood restoration class. I have two DUX
Mid Century Modern chairs that I'm restoring. The old varnish was
dirty, and in some places non-existent. My teacher has had me do a
four step process: stripper with wire brush, stripper thinner with
wire brush, TSP-type soap and wire brush, finally, water rinse with
wire brush. This week, now that it's dry, she'll look at it and
decide how much grain was raised and what grit to start sanding with.
I was having a problem getting to all the nooks with my brush so I
went online to see what others do and that's when I ran into the
restoration method avalanche, and eventually to diybanter. (Pleasure
to meet you all) Any advice for my confusion (besides medication?
Thank you in advance,
Rain

It depends on the finish to be removed, timber and project

I prefer to use glass and cabinet scrapers , i would never use chemical
strippers on decent furnishiungs as they can damage some timbers and
its difficult to remove every trace.

steel wool is fine, however i would never use it on oak furntiture as
it can cause bluestaining if your not extremly careful