Stripping operation (amateur) | The Press

Solid wood furniture is good for life, but… it fades and goes out of style. Solution ? Strip it and refinish it. Our journalist experienced this with a red oak table. Story of his adventure.

The project

On a classified ads site, the seller was offering the table for $60. Cheap. Really cheap.

In addition, the table is in more than acceptable condition. If we rely on its design (wicker canework, rounded corners, tinted glass, gold-colored border), it must date from the 1980s, perhaps the end of 1970. The only flaw: the reddish stain that covers its solid oak. We would like something lighter, more trendy. What we find on the web inspires us: with a little (or a lot) of love, the table could even become up to date again.

Co-owner of the 3 brothers cabinetmaker, in Haut-Richelieu, Marcel Bélair Junior has been stripping furniture since the age of 12. Even in the 1970s and 1980s, he says, the furniture we produced was of good quality. That’s why it’s worth restoring them. “Today, if you go to the store, three-quarters of the time, you have 25%, 30% wood, and the rest is all phony, pressed wood, colored cardboard, he says. And if you really want quality furniture, you pay in tabarnouche. »

Having furniture stripped by a professional also has a price. For our table, Marcel Bélair Junior estimates the cost of “perfect stripping” at around $1000 to $1200. In its current condition, the table isn’t worth much more than the $60 it cost us, he says. “By investing in a restaurateur like me, you wouldn’t make any money,” he summarizes. You’d better do it yourself in your spare time. »

The method

Okay, but where do we start?

The first thing to think about is safety, says Francis Marchand, furniture finishing teacher at the National School of Furniture and Cabinetmaking in Victoriaville. “You have to strip in a ventilated place,” he warns, ideally outside in the shade (the sun makes the stripper less aggressive), otherwise in a well-ventilated garage. You also need to think about protective equipment: glasses, gloves (a pair of nitrile and a second of thick rubber), long clothing.

In hardware stores, you can find strippers, but generally less powerful than those sold in specialized stores like Sylteck, Richelieu and Lorchem. Ardec and Lee Valley offer strippers that are less hazardous to health and the environment. “Ask for information in store,” advises Francis Marchand. We can advise you on a range of compatible products. »

We therefore go to a specialized painting center, from where we leave with a can of stripper and another of acetone, which will be used to neutralize the surface after stripping it. This function can also be provided by lacquer thinner or naphtha solvent. If we skip the neutralization step, warns Francis Marchand, the finishing products could adhere less well. We also get a scraper, 00 gauge steel wool and an entry-level bristle brush.

Steps

It’s time to start the stripping operation. Section by section, apply the gel remover and cover with a trash bag to maximize the effect of the product. After about fifteen minutes, pass the scraper in the direction of the wood grain. When you get a drop of stripper on your skin, rinse thoroughly with cold water and clean with soap.

We then pass the steel wool (soaked in the stripper) to remove the rest of the varnish, and with a cloth soaked in acetone, we then neutralize the surface.

“Finally, good sanding is essential,” says Francis Marchand, who advises using 100, 120 and 150 grit sandpaper successively.

This sanding step turns out to be difficult. The old stain is embedded in the grain of the wood; thin darker lines remain. By sanding, we realize that the central part of the table extensions is not solid wood, but a veneer, which we have just knocked out slightly. We should have taken it more slowly. Our aggressive sanding also made the curves a little less… harmonious.

Restoring furniture is a job. It is clear that it is not ours.

“When you restore a piece of furniture, there is always an acceptance, a resilience to be had,” the teacher Francis Marchand warned us. The table will not be perfect. So be it.

The result

After a good 12 hours of work (yes), the table is finally ready for finishing. The desired look? A slightly less red wood, which is closer to white oak. To do this, we first apply a bleach to our red oak to lighten it a little.

Two main options are then available to us: stain and varnish, on the one hand, and oil (tinted or not) on the other. “You could also paint the base black or white, and leave the top in natural wood,” advises Marcel Bélair Junior. A great idea, but we choose the simplest option: a white oak-colored tinted oil.

To finish, we change the canework, we have two new tempered windows made and we paint the gold-colored border white. And finally ! – That’s it.

An experience to repeat? Yes quite. Moreover, there are still the eight chairs to be sanded and painted white… and three coffee tables from the same collection as the first to be restored.

Our adventure is still far from over!