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Furniture Refinishing Tips

Video, Carpentry, Painting, Repairs and Installation, Interior Published 12/05/2006 by Danny Lipford

Refinishing old furniture can be very rewarding, but it can also be quite a mess. Here are a few tips to simplify the task.

• To remove chemical stripper and finish without gouging the wood use a plastic putty knife with rounded edges or an old plastic kitchen spatula.
• For round furniture legs on a chair or table, a five-in-one painters tool works well to scrape off the finish. The radius cut in the tool for cleaning rollers is just the right size for many furniture legs.
• Add wood shavings to the surface after you apply the stripper. The shavings will absorb the sludge of dissolved finish so scraping is less messy.
• Set the legs of the piece on aluminum pie pans to catch any stripper and sludge that runs down.