What do you use to strip varnish off the chest and what would you to put back on the chest?
By Kervin
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If you visit a store that sells paint products, you will find products to use. You may find booklets or books that will help you. You could search on Youtube for information as well. There are directions to just about everything on there. You could also visit the library for books on furniture refinishing to help you.
2 gallons of varnish stripper or the kind to remove paint it's gummy like not like water. You can tell which one is which when you pick it up and give it a gentle shake; one sounds more sloshy than the other.
steel wood pads w/o soap
paint brush
a lot of old rags
screwdriver
catch all container (for liquid stripper only)
"thick" non rubber gloves
Remove all knobs, drawer pulls, chains first
Put wood item in the catch all and with paint brush, keep stripper brushed over the surface doing one side at a time until you have only the raw wood showing. With rag, swipe off cleaned off wood in direction of grain. Wrap screwdriver edge with old cloth to get into corners/crevices/drawer pull holes.
At this point, repeat procedure on all sides before doing this next step: Use steel wool pad in direction of wood grain to smooth the grain and wipe off the dust with a lightly dampened rag only. Continue to wipe with clean old rags until all dust/debris is removed. The key is to stay with the grain only for a smooth surface.
When the raw wood is cleaned well and looks even in coloring and is totally dry then you can stain with a clean cloth or leave natural wood and paint Varathane over the surface in light layers repeating after each is dried. You have choices of clear gloss, semigloss, satin finishes.
From experience, I've tried the gummy stripper on stain/varnish/shellac and it's a real mess to clean/wipe off. It's my opinion the liquid stripper remover works best and fastest. It's also able to be used again over the wood until too much varnish/stain/shellac is added to the solution making it too thick to work with and doesn't remove all, but rather puts it back on making the wood look darkened. With practice, you'll know when it's time to change the old for the new stripper.
If you're good with an electric sander, you could also remove the old finish and go with the grain; use the finest grain of sandpaper as a final sand job and wipe off all dust/debris from surface continually using a clean rag and then with a slightly dampened clean cloth go with the grain and wipe off any remainder. If the rag becomes dirty; get another clean rag and do it again.
Use a steel wool pad without soap going with grain if the wood isn't smooth enough and wipe off dust as stated above. Apply your choice of finishes as directed on label and let dry.
I tried stripping with electric sanders and it gums up the sand paper then I used a belt sander and it gummed up the sand paper, so I used chemical and it was a mess, what I settled on was electric planner and was able to strip of a 1/84 slice and it took it down to the wood, then I came back with sand paper, it worked the best and a lot less trouble
I want to paint the inside of a cedar chest which is unvarnished, does it have to be sealed or does the paint do it? I am repurposing it without the lid.
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