Wendi Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I've got a lovely Victorian dresser with mirror; I bought it at an antique store when I was single. It's got a very, very dark varnish on it, almost opaque. The mirror also needs resilvering. I'm thinking of refinishing it and either painting it (distressed look) or using a sheer varnish so the wood can show. However, I've never done any refinishing, and I'm also concerned about the safety of removing varnish that is potentially 120 years old. Would I be able to take it to someone and have them remove the varnish for me? I would like to put the new finish on myself (dh can help; he's got more experience). How much would something like this cost? I realize that doing anything like this affects the value of the piece, but I'm not interested in reselling it, and it's not a rare piece or anything. Wendi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) You can easily strip it yourself with Citristrip and steel wool. You can get it at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. No caustic chemicals or nasty fumes, and you can just wipe it down with odorless mineral spirits before staining. It will even strip polyurethane, and old varnish is much easier to remove than poly. I've used gallons of the stuff, and stripped everything from dressers and tables to huge bookcases. Very easy to use and waaaaaay cheaper than taking it to a furniture refinisher. Many refinishers just "dunk" the furniture in a vat of stripper rather than doing it by hand, and that's not good for the wood. ETA: You may find that once you get the dark varnish off, that the wood is not an even color (and that that's why they stained it really dark to begin with). But then you can either paint it, as you mentioned, or restain it a dark color with a gel stain or something. Jackie Edited March 31, 2012 by Corraleno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 You know, if you remove the varnish, you'll be devaluing your piece of furniture. Just sayin'. :-) If you're determined to do it anyway, there is a solvent you can use that will be pretty painless--no steel wool or sand paper involved. I'll have to get back to you with the name. We ordered it on-line to remove the faked wood grain that someone had painted on a Duncan Phyfe dining table and chairs. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 We ordered it on-line to remove the faked wood grain that someone had painted on a Duncan Phyfe dining table and chairs. :blink: It always amazes me when I see antiques that have been "antiqued." :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 It always amazes me when I see antiques that have been "antiqued." :banghead: I know, right? :ack2: On the up side, the table had been donated to a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, so I was able to get the table with two leaves and pads, and 6 chairs, for abour $125. Mr. Ellie and I stripped off the nasty paint from the table, and restained it and finished it. We are not professionals, but it still looks beautimous. We paid to have the chairs professionally stripped (dipped in big vats of solvent), and we stained and polyurethaned them, too. Since the table and chairs were already ruined, so to speak, they were not devalued because we refinished them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Since the table and chairs were already ruined, so to speak, they were not devalued because we refinished them. Also, you get the benefit of having a good, strong finish on them now! The stuff they used back then was amost useless for preventing water stains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runmiarun Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 You can get Soygel from Franmar. It's a soybean-based paint remover that works very well. We used it on our 120-year-old Victorian pocket doors that were painted 1970's gold and avocado green. You can also vary the amount you put on the piece so as not to strip off all the good stains/varnishes as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendi Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 It sounds like removing the old varnish might not be as horrible as I thought. I was imagining toxic fumes and hours of scraping off flakes of varnish. Maybe I can do it myself. I wonder, though, if the dark, heavy varnish was the style then, or if it's so dark because the wood underneath is not attractive or doesn't match or something. Well, thanks for the info. This little project will have to wait a bit anyway; I've got some painting and other stuff to do first. Wendi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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