Refinishing Old Clear

[Joe Pelonio]

LOML want me to refinish the seats only on some eating table chairs. They have a natural finish clear on the maple seats, the rest is painted. They are in fine condition, she just wants the seats to match the table which I refinished (to her specs) a few weeks ago.

I did a search here and it looks like the most likely thing to remove the clear finish is stripper containing methylene chloride, non-flammable version.

My question is, after using this product, letting it dry and sanding, will it then accept a fairly light translucent oil stain, or might there be blotches where the chemical remover soaked in? I really want to avoid having to sand the finish off.

[Steve Schoene]

If you can figure out how to use chemical stripper without messing up the paint at the same time you're a better man than I.

That said, the stripper won't make it harder for the light stain to work, though you will still have to do some sanding after the stripper. This would be easier sanding that just sanding off the old finish. To accept stain all the old finish does have to come off.

It sounds like you only need a small color change to the seats. You might consider a toner over the old finish. Several very thin and very lightly colored coats of finish might go on evenly enough when wiped on. Experiment first though.

[glenn bradley]

Stripping and refinishing video on FWW online:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/subscription/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=29515

[Joe Pelonio]

Thanks guys. So far so good, I did one chair for a test. The old finish was still a little tough after the remover sat 10 minutes so I did a 2nd application and it came right off with a plastic putty knife. After drying a light sanding with #100 then #180 and it took the stain nicely.