Furniture Prep! Yuck!
As far as I'm concerned there isn't anything fun about prepping furniture, but like so many things the prep makes all the difference.
Supplies:
• Stripper (see brand I prefer below)
• Cheap plastic putty knife
• Heavy rubber gloves - cleaning gloves work great
• Contianer to poor stripper in
• Container to put stripped stain/varnish in (I prefer old styrofoam meat trays)
• Paper towels to wipe off putty knife
• 00 Steel Wool (a package)
• Several Old Rags
•Some Good Music!
Stripping Furniture:
1. Put on some heavy rubber gloves and get with it!
2. I usually use an old brush or buy a cheap on that can be thrown away.
3. My favorite stripper is Citristrip http://www.citristrip.com , it can be found many places, I'm sure others work great also.
4. I like to work a section at a time. Paint a heavy coat of stripper on the wood, allow to set for at least 30 min.
5. Grab a cheap putty knife (I like the plastic ones) and run it along the surface. Make sure to have an old container handy to put the goop on that your scrapping off the wood.
6. If for some reason the stripper is not working wonderful paint another coat on and go have a cup of coffee.
7. If the piece has a lot of small detail just do the best you can, never fear I will cover that in a few minutes.
8. After one side of the furniture is stripped paint another coat and let the stripper do it's magic. Wait an additional 30 min.
9. Dip 00 steel wool into the striper and begin rubbing the wood. The combination of the stripper, the steel wool, and a little elbow grease will take you down to the actual wood.
10. The steel wool collects all the old varnish and the stripper. Change to a new piece of steel wool when it stops working.
11. When you are happy with the results wipe the area with an old damp rag.
12. Continue until the piece is complete.
13. Wipe down the entire piece with an additional damp cloth.
13. Allow stripped furniture to dry out over night.