I'm having a problem with Strippers . . . Refinishing a Mahogany Bed Frame

[Harlan Theaker]

A while ago I purchased a beautiful Mahogany Bed Frame. I loved the detail of the frame and got it at a great price, mostly because the bed needs to be refinished.

I've tried stripping it on several occasions, but have never really made any progress with it. I've tried paint thinner, methyl hydrate, Heirloom furniture stripper as well as a couple of other products. Unfortunately, I haven't really had any success with any of the products. I've allowed them to soak in and scrubbed with a coarse steel wool, but it hardly removes any of the finish With a piece this large, especially with all of the detail, I feel like I could probably build another bed using toothpicks faster than using these products.

I've contemplated looking in something like walnut blasting, but haven't looked to hard at that option yet.

Any ideas? I love the frame, but don't want to spend months with sandpaper...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/IMG_1773.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/IMG_1776.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/IMG_1774.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/IMG_1775.jpg

[Scott Holmes]

Two things...

One to toss aside the other to use per the directions.

Steelwool toss it aside, even if the directions say use it, don't!

Get a stripper that shows the active ingredient as methylene chloride... the more the better.

Use a synthetic steelwool aka scotchbrite pad.

[Jason Roehl]

...or find a furniture refinisher with a dip tank and have them dip/strip it for you.

Otherwise, I agree with Scott--the more methylene chloride (wear appropriate protective gear), the better. Brush it on in one direction only and don't "work" it (or spray it on with a squirt bottle or some other manual sprayer). Some strippers are made to be covered with paper or plastic to keep them from drying out so they can work on the finish for 12-24 hours or more.

[Jamie Schmitz]

Lye works (Drano) sometimes when others do not. I stripped an old table top once with pretty good success(followed by a wood bleaching). It was a gunked up varnish finish I believe. As Jason mentioned there are acid based strippers that you would wrap with plastic that might be good. Also I would certainly just take off those beads and buy new ones after you loosen up the paint. Those are an absolute time consumer.
http://www.dumondchemicals.com/testimonials/hermansilver.html

[Scott Holmes]

I don't recommend lye. Stick with a methylene chloride stripper. The gels work well, let them set for 10-15 minutes then reapply and scrape with plastic putty knife or steel putty knife (be careful with the sharp edges on the steel knives). A brass or stainless steel brush will help remove the gunk from the carved areas.


Jamie I think the "beads" are holding fabric or more likely leather on the headboard.

It looks as if the color is "in" the finish you may be dealing with a cat lacquer or even a conversion varnish. Do you know how old it is?

[Harlan Theaker]

I appreciate all of the responses. I'm going to go on a search for methylene chloride tomorrow... hopefully lowes or hd will carry something with it. Also, going to pick up a few more brushes as I'm worried about being able to get into all the little nooks.

The "beads" or brass nails are more decorative than anything. The leather is wrapped around the backside and stapled with 1/4 mahogany ply covering it. I was able to remove the ply and remove the leather inserts to get them out of the way.

I actually have no idea how old the frame is. I bought it (for next to nothing) from a guy at least a year ago and he had previously bought it from someone else and couldn't remember any more info.

I'll report back tomorrow hopefully with some new pics and progress.

[sheldon pettit]

Looks like an early new york piece 20-30's high end company, could be shellac and varnish, but from the wear and flaking patterns i would bet money it's early lacquer, try using lacquer thinner first to test if it will come off easily with that before spending your money on varnish removers ok? also as mentioned and why i feel it's lacquer is its a shaded piece/toned piece/glazed piece, no color in the wood, this would not be the case if shellac or varnish would have been used if it's the original finish. Buck says it's lacquer!!

[Phil Thien]

There is a joke about strippers and throwing dollars at the problem somewhere in the title of this thread.

[Harlan Theaker]

Well, here are a few updated pictures. I bought some minwax paint & varnish stripper, which is like a gel and it works fairly well on anything flat, but with all of the detail in the piece, it's been going very slowly. I've found that using a scrub brush works best as Don suggested, but so far I'm about 9 hours in and still a lot of colour in the nooks and crannies.

I've been applying the gel quite liberally and I'm happy it's coming along, just not nearly as quickly as I'd like.

Now that I've got down to bare wood, you can see it's a blonde coloured wood, not sure exactly what it is. The funny thing though is that the back panel is 1/4 mahogany ply and the unfinished runners underneath are also 4/4 mahogany...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/IMG_1779.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/IMG_1780.jpg

[Matt Day]

There is a joke about strippers and throwing dollars at the problem somewhere in the title of this thread.

Exactly what I was thinking!