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Showerthought: I found a 1920s dresser in a ditch last month and the finish was a total mess
I was driving home from a job in Springfield and saw this old dresser just sitting by the road. It was solid oak but someone had painted it with about three thick coats of house paint. I took it home, thinking it would be a quick strip job. Wrong. Under the paint was this weird, cracked shellac that turned to sticky goo the second my chemical stripper touched it. I had to switch to a cabinet scraper and work for hours, inch by inch. The wood underneath was beautiful but stained in spots. I ended up using a two-part wood bleach on the dark stains, which was nerve-wracking. Now I'm ready to start the new finish, but I'm stuck on whether to use a traditional oil varnish or a modern water-based topcoat for something this old. Has anyone else had to rescue a piece with a finish that just completely fell apart?
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charlie_fisher4516d ago
My uncle's 1920s sideboard had the same gummy shellac disaster. I went with an oil varnish on that one. It just looks right, you know, like it belongs on the old wood. The water based stuff can look a bit plastic sometimes. All that work you did, you want the warmth.
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taylorcarr16d ago
Yeah, but oil varnish yellows like crazy over time.
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