Stripping polyurethane table top...

[Mike Deblis]

Hi,

Are there any UK products that help in stripping an old polyurethane varnish finish off an oldish pine referctory table - it's a nice table, but not antique or anything...

Orbital sanders are only making token differences... is there a product to ease this - I want to Danish Oil the final cleaned table...

Cheers

[nailshooter41]

Don't grind it off with sanders. Unless you want to spend a lot of time on sanding and money on sandpaper, this can be a lot more tedious than it is worth. I refinish a lot of entryway doors, and I always strip, then sand. I have never, ever, had any kind of luck removing exterior finishes.such as polys or paints with any soy or citrus products. They do seem to leave the surface clean, but don't so much else.

For poly or varnish, I use a methyl chloride based stuff and it seems to work the best. I apply as needed, but don't use scrapers or spatulas or any of that stuff. I use the stiffest nylon brush I can find and handfulls of clean sawdust as an abrasive to remove the stripper.

I apply the stripper liberally, cover with cheap (.89) drop cloth and let it set. I uncover a little of the surface (leave as much covered as you can so your stripper will continue to work) and broadcast about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch of sawdust on the exposed area. Literally, you should "scrub" the finish off. The brush will get into every small crack and crevice, and the sawdust will abrade the finish off, and absorb the gunk making this process a lot less painfull.

Apply more stripper and sawdust as needed. Occasionally, I need to apply another light coat of stripper and reclean as needed.

YOU MUST observe good safety when using a good quality stripper. The good stuff will raise a red, burning welt in seconds from touching it with bare skin, although it easily washes off. Go here for an overview:

have tried this other method with surprising success, but it is really only useful for flat surfaces (table tops) or areas where you cannot use stripper. This is diffcult to do with profiled surfaces such as spindle turned legs, edge profiled trim, etc., even with the profiled scrapers that are available for his method. The good news is that the poly is the least resistant to being removed in this manner.

is a tedious way to strip, but you don't have the cost of the stripper, or any worries about fumes. It is easy to scorch your project though, and in cases of clear resealing, you can discolor the wood from heating and melting the resins over it. Sanding will probably cure that, though.

Hope this helps!

Robert