Stripping varnish solid pine

[Tim]

Hello people.

I've been given a large solid pine dining table which is varnished. I reckon it needs to be bought back to life a little and guess the best way to do this would be to remove the varnish and redo it some how.

Could anyone give us some ideas about the best course of action eg removing the varnish and what's the best way of giving it some life back.

Thank you in advance

Tim and Rachel

[Phil Anthropist]

The easiest way to remove the varnish would be to take it to a pine furniture company who can remove the finish using the caustic dipping process. Otherwise, you could try doing this yourself by applying caustic paint/varnish remover such as Nitromors. See: . It claims to be quick and easy, but it can be messy and need several attempts to remove all the paint. There are non-caustic paint strippers, see

See also If you have got lots of time, patience and energy you could try rubbing it down using hand sanding or an electric sander. If you decide to apply new varnish to the bare wood be aware that it can be difficult to get the same finish using brush on varnish as was achieved in the factory using spray on varnish. See