Removing Tote and Knob Finish

[Garrett Ellis]

I soaked 2 pairs of totes and knobs in lacquer thinner, but all 4 pieces have left over dark spots from the original finish. What can i use to get rid of these areas? Just sand until it evens out???

Here's an example tote - one picture with flash, one without:

179019179020http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png

[Casey Gooding]

That will pretty much do it.

[Mike Brady]

Any finish that is stripped will leave behind a surface that requires light sanding. 220 or 400 grit will get rid of irregularities. Any finish you put on rosewood will immediately darken it anyway. Some of that variation in color looks like it results from grain and growth rings. Yours should turn out beautifully.

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[Mark Wyatt]

Can I hire you to do my photography? Nice totes!

[Dan Andrews]

I would be concerned about removing the natural oils found in rosewood and other tropical hardwoods, by soaking in laquer thinner. Screws and bolts that go thru woods with natural oils do not tend to set up inside the wood from rust like they will in woods like beach. I am also wondering if you will loose any of the rich color of the natural wood.

I strip small metal parts in laquer thinner and it works great, but have never used it to strip wood. Keep us posted on how your finnish turns out.

[Mike Brady]

The planes totes shown above were stripped in harsh chemical stripper, and lightly sanded. The finish applied: lacquer sprayed over shellac, did not suffer noticeably from the finish removal process. Daryl Weir, one of the best saw restorers/ sharpeners there is, dunks the entire saw handle in lacquer thinner as a first step in refinishing. He gets beautiful results on all kinds of wood.

[Dan Andrews]

That is good to know Mike, thanks.

[Garrett Ellis]

FYI - be careful when stripping the black paint/lacquer or whatever it is off of the later models. I soaked the tote of my type 18 jack. It warped it so bad that I cut it and glued in a scrap block to try to straighten it out. It turned out that the tote was from a flat sawn board and it cupped really bad once I soaked it in lacquer thinner.

The rosewood tote (pictured in the original post) was not affected the same way.

Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the warped tote, but here it is after 'fixing':

179249

[Johnny Kleso]

I find sanding to be the very best way to re-new the finish..
You can remove small dents and nicks it also brightens the color..
I use shellac as a finish but you can use it as a sanding sealer and finish with lacquer..