I'm in the final stages of refinishing a china cabinet, I had somewhat the
same Idea as you, and yes I was wrong, what I have ended up doing is
sanding the finish and stain from the whole thing. I started in June 2003,
all I have left is to put 3 coats of poly on the top hutch and I'm done
(yes I build several projects in the mean time), it's a very long and
boring process, my advice is get a good RO Sander a 1/4 sheet sander and
lots of sand paper FYI the Norten 3x sandpaper will make your life a lot
more pleasant
Chris Lang wrote:

All,

I have recently purchased a mahogany china cabinet from an auction that I
wish to refinish. I started stripping the piece with a spray on solvent -
but I'm noticing something that I dont like!

It looks as if the stain applied before is not coming out like I need it
to. Maybe I have expectations that arent realistic (this is my first
re-finishing effort), but I was expecting the wood to be a natural-like
color after I stripped the original varnish off. Then...I called a
professional refinisher for an estimate...

He mentioned that what I have done is drive the stain from the original
finish further into the wood of the cabinet - and that it's basically
impossible to refinish at home! I would agree with his first point - but
because he wanted to charge me $900.00 to refinish the piece - I'm not
ready to give up yet.

Anyone have any ideas on what it takes to successfully strip the old
finish
off of this cabinet? Maybe I'm missing some pretty simple techniques that
can make this job somewhat easier -

Thanks!

Chris Lang