Refinishing Dining Suite

[Marsha Kazakoff]

Hello all, I have inherited a dining table, 8 chairs, sideboard and china cabinet circa 1950s. It belonged to my grandparents photos attached. It needs a major redo. I have little to no experience at this, but it has been sort of a dream of mine to refinish it. This is probably a several year project for me, but I want to start with the chairs. A large part of the wood is laminate, which I am clueless at so I am looking for some advice on really just where to start. I have no idea what the wood is...what it is finished with or anything except that it is an orangey colour, and I would like it to be a dark blonde I have a prototype that I can attach. I will be removing the fabric of course and reupholstering it (this is where my talents lie currently) but I am very patient and meticulous. Sooo...
1. How to I determine what product to use to strip these babies.
2. Any ideas on how to repair the buckling laminate? Or fill the missing laminate ;)? And what order to do that in?
3. Any tips on stripping/sanding and refinishing?

Yikes. Thanks....

[Scott Holmes]

A good cleaning will go a long way to seeing what you have to do to refinish. As for existing finish; see the first post on this forum What is that finish? (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?146571-What-is-that-finish) Once that is determined; let us know the existing finish. Finish is very possibly lacquer.

Also send the picture of the color you want when finished; we can move on from there.

I don't see laminated chairs; I think I see possibly veneered chair backs.

[Marsha Kazakoff]

Yes you are right Scott it is veneer...I sometimes confuse the terms. We'll blame it on lack of sleep...infant twins at home here.
ANYWAYS< checking the finish out. Will post the prototype when I get it together here. Thanks for the redirection there. M