In a previous episode I was trying to get a clear coating off a passage lockset. Wasn't coated with lacquer as I had assumed, so lacquer thinner did nothing. Tried my environmentally-friendly paint stripper (3M Safest Stripper), which worked but slowly.
Well, folks, that's the key. The stuff *does* work. Nowhere near as fast as the nasty, toxic stuff (methylene chloride), which starts wrinkling up the finish almost immediately.
The thing with these new "green" strippers is that they work much more slowly than the bad old stuff. But left overnight, they'll eventually soften the finish to the point where it can be physically removed. In my case, it took rubbing with fine steel wool to get the last of the finish off (thanks to the person who suggested that).
So the trick is to let it stay on long enough, and also to glop the stuff on as thickly as possible. Fortunately, the 3M stuff is very thick and stays on pretty well, even on vertical surfaces. I also found I needed to keep the items being stripped covered so the stripper didn't dry up, which was easily done by draping a piece of plastic over the tray.