31
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?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
rowank691mo ago
Read an article from a furniture conservator that said old shellac was often mixed with other weird stuff back then, which is probably why it turned to goo. That two-part wood bleach you used is serious business, one slip and you're sanding for days. I'd go with the oil varnish, that warmth is worth the slight yellowing on a piece that old.
7
charlie_fisher453mo 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.
2