stripping varnish off chairs

[jim]

Please any tips for speeding up stripping varnish off a wooden chair?

Began with paint stripper + scraping but it is taking hours.

Is there any way of diy dipping into some sort of mild caustic solution in a pail? Googling indicates commercial dipping uses lethal-looking chemical methods, but may be there is a milder method using household chemicals which H & S haven't banned yet?

TIA for any suggestion.

[Bob Minchin]

I gave up in the end and took my chairs to a professional stripper where they can use real chemicals. IME, there is noting left on the domestic market that works now that Nitromors has been neutered.

[orion.osiris]

n a pail? Googling indicates commercial dipping uses lethal-looking chemic al methods, but may be there is a milder method using household chemicals w hich H & S haven't banned yet?

Blowlamp? My preferred method for paint, anyway. You used to be able to buy tins of anhydrous sodium hydroxide flakes from B oots back in the day (AKA 'Lye'). I somehow doubt Boots still stock it but you might just get it from a builder's merchants with any luck, if the H&S goons haven't banned it. Since stuff like D-Block has thus far survived the attentions of our wonderful law-makers, there's a good possibility Lye may have done likewise.

[ARW]

Angle grinder.

[orion.osiris]

Good idea. But a *miniature* one like a Dremmel perhaps!

[F Murtz]

Blimey you lot of wooses, you can buy caustic soda in any supermarket in Australia.

[Vir Campestris]

Interesting - non-wusses (note the spelling!) over here buy drain cleaner having read the small print of the ingredients...

Andy

[F Murtz]

I like wooses in case you lot did not know what a wus was, as I like moozalem. (Phonetic, heard a yank pronounce it thus) We have the drain cleaner next to the caustic, we don't feel the need to hide or ban the caustic

[stuart noble]

Caustic will dissolve old style finishes (french polish, spirit varnish etc) but won't touch modern spray coatings. Washing soda works just as well