@@paulsDIYsolutions While I was watching your video, I realized that I had exactly the same yellow scrapers among my tools. It hadn't occurred to me to use them for paint stripping, as I figured they'd melt from the solvent. I can now stop apologizing to my wood door for the little gouges I have made. I'm so glad to have found your videos, and much appreciate that you've taken the time to answer.
Thank you. I want to do a few projects, I have not found the right information until I found your channel. You do an excellent job of explaining what needs to be done and what you shouldn’t do. Look forward to watching more of your videos.
Thank you so much for this!! I found your tutorials after countless paint removal videos, (you are absolutely bleep right)that stop after the thinner/mineral spirits wash. Thank you for breaking it down and teaching me how to remove paint off wood and restore it for a better finish it.
Hi Paul: I am so glad that I found your videos! I am no painter. Hate to do it. But I have refinished furniture successfully before. Presently I am working on our beautiful oak dining table and I am messing up because I didn realize just how much time I need to let it dry properly. I sanded it right down leaving just a little bit of the old finish. To this I applied two coats of orange shellac, sanding between coats. I would leave 10-12 hours between coats. It looked great! I covered the table with a thick cover and used it during the day. I was being very careful, or so I thought, but when I uncovered the table to apply the varathane, I saw that someone had set a hot cup on the cloth instead of using a saucer. The other side of the table looked okay, so I proceeded to sand down the bad side and apply two coats of orange shellac. I then applied two coats of varathane sanding between coats. I realize now that I should have thinned the varathane with mineral oil, and things didn't go well. My question is, apart from a few spots that look terrible, as a whole it doesn't look too bad. So, do I have to start from scratch? Or is there a shortcut that I can take? We have used this table for over 54 years, so the finish was in pretty rough shape when I started this task. My husband's uncle was a cabinet maker and he refinished it all those years ago and it stood the test of time with four young men and countless birthday parties and family meals served on it over the years. I just want it to look great again, but I am kind of lazy. HELP! Marjorie
Hey Marjorie. Priceless!! Not only an oak table (probably solid oak) but as a family heirloom with a lot of good stories I'm sure. Unfortunately there are no quick remedies to a faulty finish. I would remove all the finish and restart. By the way you don't need to shellac the surface. Shellac when used as an undercoating is dome to seal out othet finsihes and imperfections. If you've taken your project down to bare wood there should be no need for a sealer. best . . .paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions Hi Paul: thank you for your speedy reply. It is solid oak and over 100 years old. A priceless heirloom. I used the orange shellac because I like the color. But I will follow your advice but do you think I could stain it and then use the varathane ? Have a great day.
Hi Paul, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. We have what we think is a solid pine kitchen table that was stained and only had tung oil. Again, we think? It's always been a look but don't touch table, and life has brought us to a point where we really need a function table that can stand up to kids so we were sold on polyurethane. Applied according to manufactures directions and that brings us to the beginning of a series of unfortunate events and I currently have a few questions. How do we know we've thoroughly completed the stripper step? We've done 3 rounds of a gel chemical stripper. Only a few spots of stain came up when removing the stripper. Is this to be expected? Do we sand to get past the stain or did we possible not leave the stripper on long enough? Also, in the How to remove paint from wood, Part 1 video toward the end you mention adding oil back into the wood to restore luster. When would you preform this step? Before sanding, staining, or finishing? I wish I'd know this before we got started because with the information you've shared we plan to stain and use your combination tung oil finish. Thanks again!
Hey Ginger. Stripper will lighten stain but not remove it all. Stain is very, very liquid and soaks deep into the wood. You can sand it away but be careful to be sure your wood is solid wood and not a thin veneer. More often than not when doing a deep sand you cut through the veneer and the cheap sublayers are revealed. One solution is to strip and stain it darker. If you are going to use the combo finish use the tung oil by itself diluted 50:50 with paint thinner (do not use odorless mineral spirits). This will refresh the wood. Then on the second coat use the combo. I think I've answered all your questions, if not please ask. best . . . paul
Thank you for the informative video, I just have a couple questions for my project. I have recently gotten a what seems to be a 100ish year old table for a sewing machine, but somebody painted it over with acrylic and I wish to remove it. How exactly would I go about removing the acrylic? Is there any differences in the removal process for acrylic and varnish/paint? It seems like they have stripped the varnish before applying the acrylic paint, from what I can see from the cracks in the acrylic paint.
@@paulsDIYsolutions Hi Paul, I bought 5 stunning Tiger Oak 5 panel doors for $ 25 a piece ! I have been looki g for doors like that for over 13 years ! About 110 years old. Varnish and cigarette smoke. Yikes. Your videos give me hope. We do have a driveway I can work in. I plan to use the non toxic varnish remover and later, lightly sand. I have used Tung oil on teak before. I might do that again. The doors in our 1950's brick house are crappy hollow doors , that are peeling ! Ugh. Thank you ! Sarah
What is the reason you didn't use a belt sander to remove the old finish? It works well on flat surfaces. I use 24 grit sandpaper and the old finish is off in a few minutes. No chemicals needed.
Hello Paul, love your videos, very informative and great for beginners. I have subscribed. I am currently in the process of refinishing an old table. I'm not sure what the wood is. I sanded it down to the bare wood, applied a base, followed by water based stainer, all okay. Then on applying a water based glossy polyurethane, three coats, with sanding inbetween, I messed up somewhere and it left the surface with a lot of milky white patches. I am currently in the process of sanding off the water based polyurethane with a 240 grit sandpaper by hand, to avoid any circular mistakes with my drill bit sander attachment, as I do not want to have to reapply stainer or worse still start all over. Three questions: 1. As I do not want to strip off the stainer, but only the finisher, so I can reapply it, is this method okay? 2. Is there a faster way to strip off only the water based polyurethane? 2. If I do accidentally sand off some of the stainer, can I just add another coat of stainer, and then carry on with the finisher? Thank you very much. Marco
Hey Marco. So much going on here! First if you are going to try to get all the poly off with sanding you should wait 3-4 weeks for the polyurethane to cure (dry all the way through), otherwise your sand paper will just keep gumming up and become totally ineffective. Second you be there for weeks with a fine grit like 240 grit paper. Third a drill sander is the worst option. It wil leave sanding swirl marks. A random orbital sander is a better choice. But even here you have to sand slow or it will leave swirl marks. Trying to spot stain almost never works. Stripper is a saner option but don't think it will only remove the poly and no stain (sanding will also). Can't imagine how you can ONLY remove the poly? Lastly stripper will also grab a substantial part of the stain but not all of it. So restaining is more than likely. Sorry wish I had better news but you missed a lot of the basics going into this project. best . . . paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, much appreciated. I know, going in I thought I had it covered, watched lots of videos, but I guess nothing beats practice. I think I know where I messed up with the finish, not thinning it, not letting it dry thoroughly between coats, and applying it like paint! Other than that perfect. LOL. You are right about sanding with a 240, it is taking forever, but on the bright side I'm building up muscle! I would consider using stripper, but I'm doing it indoors in the study, with no option to do it outside. I do have a powerful air purifier running, can open the window and put a fan behind if needed, but would rather try and stay away from strong chemicals if possible, and really do not want to have to start from scratch, hence was hoping to just sand off the finisher. But if the worse comes to the worse, might have to. Have now rewatched your video re. removing finisher, stripper vs sanding, most informative. Trying to source some stripper, which is a bit hard here. Have seen some videos re. using oven cleaner, I'm not concerned re. darkening the wood, I was just wondering if this is something you had ever tried and what your thoughts were. Oven cleaner is easy to get hold of here. Thank you again. Please send a link so I can buy you a coffee. Marco
Hi! Thank you so much for your videos, I will be taking your valuable knowledge and putting it to use in my future projects. You mentioned that the chemical stripper will soften the wood. I have a customer who wants to use pine as ledgers on the wall for hanging childrens art work with push pins at a daycare center. The pine, although a softwood, is still a bit too tough in my opinion in order to sink the push pins deeper than an eighth of an inch. Will applying chemical stripper to bare pine help with this? Or will I iust be wasting my time trying. What do you think? I may go ahead and try and repost the results if you’re not sure
I guess ultimately the question would be, will the chemical stripper soften the wood permanently or just until the stripper dissipates into the abyss and the pine reverts to its original hardness
Hi I’m trying to take the paint off trim in my room the house is over 100 years old so it might have lead paint. What would you recommend using a paint stripper or a heat gun? If heat gun would it still be safe to keep my bed and and clothes in room?
Hey Jason. I'm still here. Sorry but I don't check my emails assocaited with my videos or website. I answer questions here on RUclips daily. My website is a resource for those who like to follow written instructions. I'm here so ask away. best . . . paul
You sound like you would be a fantastic wood shop teacher. If kids these days were more absorbent and respectful I think that would be a fun way for you to “retire”
Hey Jax. I am having fun without any commitment. Teaching would interferre with my cocktail hour. Thanx for the compliment though. I do enjoy teaching what little I know. best . . . paul
![BabyChiefDoit - Wonderful Time (Official Music Video) [Shot By @Rxllo]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_Bfqt3zV2KE/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks man! You know your thing for sure! Big thanks for sharing you help!
You're welocme Potato. Thanx for watching and commenting. best . . . paul
Thank you so much! Your explanations are detailed, concise and clear.
Glad to be of some help WW. Thanx for watching and commenting. best . . . paul
The 100-year-old wood door I'm in the middle of stripping very much appreciates your advice on scrapers.
Theses days I prefer plastic scrapers as outlined in my video. best . . . paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions While I was watching your video, I realized that I had exactly the same yellow scrapers among my tools. It hadn't occurred to me to use them for paint stripping, as I figured they'd melt from the solvent. I can now stop apologizing to my wood door for the little gouges I have made. I'm so glad to have found your videos, and much appreciate that you've taken the time to answer.
@@bluesky7838 Never apologize to your work it's a sign of weakness and they'll take advantage of it!!! LOL
Thank you. I want to do a few projects, I have not found the right information until I found your channel. You do an excellent job of explaining what needs to be done and what you shouldn’t do. Look forward to watching more of your videos.
Hey Tess. Glad to be of some help. Thanx for watching and commenting. best . . . paul
Thankyou so much for this! I am a military wife and I need projects to keep me busy and this helped me so much you’re amazing!!!
Hey Noel. Thanx for your sacrifice. It's an escape, right? Kinda Zen. best . . . paul
Thank you so much for this!!
I found your tutorials after countless paint removal videos, (you are absolutely bleep right)that stop after the thinner/mineral spirits wash.
Thank you for breaking it down and teaching me how to remove paint off wood and restore it for a better finish it.
Hey Xara. Glad to be a part of the journey. Thanx for watching and bleep commenting. best . . . paul
Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing your skills and knowledge!
Hey Leaf. Actually thank you for including me in a part of your journey!! best . . . paul
Very thorough
Thanx Cathy. Glad to be of some help. Thanx for commenting and watrching. best . . . paul
Hi Paul:
I am so glad that I found your videos! I am no painter. Hate to do it. But I have refinished furniture successfully before. Presently I am working on our beautiful oak dining table and I am messing up because I didn realize just how much time I need to let it dry properly. I sanded it right down leaving just a little bit of the old finish. To this I applied two coats of orange shellac, sanding between coats. I would leave 10-12 hours between coats. It looked great! I covered the table with a thick cover and used it during the day. I was being very careful, or so I thought, but when I uncovered the table to apply the varathane, I saw that someone had set a hot cup on the cloth instead of using a saucer. The other side of the table looked okay, so I proceeded to sand down the bad side and apply two coats of orange shellac. I then applied two coats of varathane sanding between coats. I realize now that I should have thinned the varathane with mineral oil, and things didn't go well. My question is, apart from a few spots that look terrible, as a whole it doesn't look too bad. So, do I have to start from scratch? Or is there a shortcut that I can take? We have used this table for over 54 years, so the finish was in pretty rough shape when I started this task. My husband's uncle was a cabinet maker and he refinished it all those years ago and it stood the test of time with four young men and countless birthday parties and family meals served on it over the years. I just want it to look great again, but I am kind of lazy. HELP!
Marjorie
Hey Marjorie. Priceless!! Not only an oak table (probably solid oak) but as a family heirloom with a lot of good stories I'm sure. Unfortunately there are no quick remedies to a faulty finish. I would remove all the finish and restart. By the way you don't need to shellac the surface. Shellac when used as an undercoating is dome to seal out othet finsihes and imperfections. If you've taken your project down to bare wood there should be no need for a sealer. best . . .paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions Hi Paul: thank you for your speedy reply. It is solid oak and over 100 years old. A priceless heirloom. I used the orange shellac because I like the color. But I will follow your advice but do you think I could stain it and then use the varathane ?
Have a great day.
@@marjoriemachattie7375 Hi Marjorie. Yes if you are down to bare wood. If not the shellac will block the stain. best . . . paul
Hi Paul, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.
We have what we think is a solid pine kitchen table that was stained and only had tung oil. Again, we think? It's always been a look but don't touch table, and life has brought us to a point where we really need a function table that can stand up to kids so we were sold on polyurethane. Applied according to manufactures directions and that brings us to the beginning of a series of unfortunate events and I currently have a few questions. How do we know we've thoroughly completed the stripper step? We've done 3 rounds of a gel chemical stripper. Only a few spots of stain came up when removing the stripper. Is this to be expected? Do we sand to get past the stain or did we possible not leave the stripper on long enough? Also, in the How to remove paint from wood, Part 1 video toward the end you mention adding oil back into the wood to restore luster. When would you preform this step? Before sanding, staining, or finishing?
I wish I'd know this before we got started because with the information you've shared we plan to stain and use your combination tung oil finish. Thanks again!
Hey Ginger. Stripper will lighten stain but not remove it all. Stain is very, very liquid and soaks deep into the wood. You can sand it away but be careful to be sure your wood is solid wood and not a thin veneer. More often than not when doing a deep sand you cut through the veneer and the cheap sublayers are revealed. One solution is to strip and stain it darker. If you are going to use the combo finish use the tung oil by itself diluted 50:50 with paint thinner (do not use odorless mineral spirits). This will refresh the wood. Then on the second coat use the combo. I think I've answered all your questions, if not please ask. best . . . paul
Thank you for the informative video, I just have a couple questions for my project. I have recently gotten a what seems to be a 100ish year old table for a sewing machine, but somebody painted it over with acrylic and I wish to remove it. How exactly would I go about removing the acrylic? Is there any differences in the removal process for acrylic and varnish/paint? It seems like they have stripped the varnish before applying the acrylic paint, from what I can see from the cracks in the acrylic paint.
Hey Julalva. Strip it! best . . . paul
Fantastic videos !
Hey Sara. Thanx. And thanx for watching and the feedback. best . . . paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions Hi Paul, I bought 5 stunning Tiger Oak 5 panel doors for $ 25 a piece ! I have been looki g for doors like that for over 13 years ! About 110 years old. Varnish and cigarette smoke. Yikes. Your videos give me hope. We do have a driveway I can work in. I plan to use the non toxic varnish remover and later, lightly sand. I have used Tung oil on teak before. I might do that again. The doors in our 1950's brick house are crappy hollow doors , that are peeling ! Ugh.
Thank you !
Sarah
@@sarahcooper8957 Way to go Sarah!! 13 years!! You deserve that deal.
What is the reason you didn't use a belt sander to remove the old finish? It works well on flat surfaces. I use 24 grit sandpaper and the old finish is off in a few minutes. No chemicals needed.
Hey User. A sandblaster would work too but it like 24 grit leaves some pretty deep scratches. best . . . paul
Hey Paul, what stripper are you using? I’ve been through a few videos and your site and can’t seem to find it. I promise I’ve tried!!
Hey Curious. I think I used Jassco on that project. best . . . paul
Hello Paul, love your videos, very informative and great for beginners. I have subscribed.
I am currently in the process of refinishing an old table. I'm not sure what the wood is. I sanded it down to the bare wood, applied a base, followed by water based stainer, all okay. Then on applying a water based glossy polyurethane, three coats, with sanding inbetween, I messed up somewhere and it left the surface with a lot of milky white patches. I am currently in the process of sanding off the water based polyurethane with a 240 grit sandpaper by hand, to avoid any circular mistakes with my drill bit sander attachment, as I do not want to have to reapply stainer or worse still start all over. Three questions:
1. As I do not want to strip off the stainer, but only the finisher, so I can reapply it, is this method okay?
2. Is there a faster way to strip off only the water based polyurethane?
2. If I do accidentally sand off some of the stainer, can I just add another coat of stainer, and then carry on with the finisher?
Thank you very much.
Marco
Hey Marco. So much going on here! First if you are going to try to get all the poly off with sanding you should wait 3-4 weeks for the polyurethane to cure (dry all the way through), otherwise your sand paper will just keep gumming up and become totally ineffective. Second you be there for weeks with a fine grit like 240 grit paper. Third a drill sander is the worst option. It wil leave sanding swirl marks. A random orbital sander is a better choice. But even here you have to sand slow or it will leave swirl marks. Trying to spot stain almost never works. Stripper is a saner option but don't think it will only remove the poly and no stain (sanding will also). Can't imagine how you can ONLY remove the poly? Lastly stripper will also grab a substantial part of the stain but not all of it. So restaining is more than likely. Sorry wish I had better news but you missed a lot of the basics going into this project. best . . . paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, much appreciated. I know, going in I thought I had it covered, watched lots of videos, but I guess nothing beats practice. I think I know where I messed up with the finish, not thinning it, not letting it dry thoroughly between coats, and applying it like paint! Other than that perfect. LOL.
You are right about sanding with a 240, it is taking forever, but on the bright side I'm building up muscle!
I would consider using stripper, but I'm doing it indoors in the study, with no option to do it outside. I do have a powerful air purifier running, can open the window and put a fan behind if needed, but would rather try and stay away from strong chemicals if possible, and really do not want to have to start from scratch, hence was hoping to just sand off the finisher. But if the worse comes to the worse, might have to.
Have now rewatched your video re. removing finisher, stripper vs sanding, most informative. Trying to source some stripper, which is a bit hard here. Have seen some videos re. using oven cleaner, I'm not concerned re. darkening the wood, I was just wondering if this is something you had ever tried and what your thoughts were. Oven cleaner is easy to get hold of here.
Thank you again. Please send a link so I can buy you a coffee.
Marco
Would the same techniques work for a Bamboo table?
Hey J. I've never used stripper on bamboo but I can't see why not. best . . . paul
Hi! Thank you so much for your videos, I will be taking your valuable knowledge and putting it to use in my future projects. You mentioned that the chemical stripper will soften the wood. I have a customer who wants to use pine as ledgers on the wall for hanging childrens art work with push pins at a daycare center. The pine, although a softwood, is still a bit too tough in my opinion in order to sink the push pins deeper than an eighth of an inch. Will applying chemical stripper to bare pine help with this? Or will I iust be wasting my time trying. What do you think? I may go ahead and try and repost the results if you’re not sure
I guess ultimately the question would be, will the chemical stripper soften the wood permanently or just until the stripper dissipates into the abyss and the pine reverts to its original hardness
Hey Sl4. It's temporary. Check out poplar. It has a wood hardness rating of 540 vs pine which is 910. best . . . paul
Hi I’m trying to take the paint off trim in my room the house is over 100 years old so it might have lead paint. What would you recommend using a paint stripper or a heat gun? If heat gun would it still be safe to keep my bed and and clothes in room?
Hey Concentrate. definitely not the heat gun. That would vaporize the laed and create lead based fumes. Stripper is a better choice. best . . . paul
Do you have mixing instructions for your special poly Tung oil mixture?
Hey Tavarua. If you're talking about my combo finish. It's 50% polymerized tung oil and 50% tung oil based spar varnish. best . . . paul
👍👍👍👍👍
Thanx again and again Magcolor!! best . . . paul
Why is it so hard to find polymerized tung oil??
Hey Andrea. It's an extra step that manufacturers have to go through. You can get it online at Lee Valley Tools or Sutherland Wells. best . . . paul
Is Paul still around? How do I reach out to him? I sent him an email for assistance but I'm not sure if it's the right address.
Hey Jason. I'm still here. Sorry but I don't check my emails assocaited with my videos or website. I answer questions here on RUclips daily. My website is a resource for those who like to follow written instructions. I'm here so ask away. best . . . paul
ok. I'll ask on the appropriate video. I reached out here as the comments were relatively recent.
@@paulsDIYsolutions
The webpage is still working?? Because I can't go into
Thanx for informing me Pablo. Some of the sheets are downloadable but some are not apparently. I will work on it this evening. best . . . paul
@@paulsDIYsolutions thanks.
You sound like you would be a fantastic wood shop teacher. If kids these days were more absorbent and respectful I think that would be a fun way for you to “retire”
Hey Jax. I am having fun without any commitment. Teaching would interferre with my cocktail hour. Thanx for the compliment though. I do enjoy teaching what little I know. best . . . paul
*promosm*
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