I have a couple of vanity doors that have gotten wet repeatedly and the clear finish over the stained wood is lifting. In some places, it's still well-adhered, in some places, it's lifted but remains on the surface, and in other places it's completely gone, revealing a perfectly fine stained finish.
How can I remove all of the clear finish without damaging the stained wood finish underneath it?
The places where the finish is lifted but still in place, I can gently get a razor blade under it and it chips off in small crumbly translucent bits. Seems a bit like shellac.
I'm going to try applying a bit of denatured alcohol and see how that does.
It makes me think of a car that's losing it's clear coat. The answer may be similar, sand it down, stain and clear coat again.
Scrape it. There is a furniture repairer channel on YT, and he changed from chemical to scraping a few years ago. Preserves the stain well.
alfadriver said:Scrape it. There is a furniture repairer channel on YT, and he changed from chemical to scraping a few years ago. Preserves the stain well.
I'll try to find that. Any suggestions for type of scraper?
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
I tried a blade from a paint scrapper held vertically and it worked. But the guy had a credit card sized blade with rounded corners that is probably safer. No sharp edges to gouge the surface.
Alcohol will dry the wood out AFAIK.
Pause for a sec...
How old are these doors? It's important to identify what the finish is. Some finishes will come off easily with a light solvent, but turn into old chewing gum if you try to sand it.
My Dad is a retired Smithsonian trained furniture museum conservator. He's posted some stuff in here about this very topic.
Search for Asas_dad
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:Pause for a sec...
How old are these doors? It's important to identify what the finish is. Some finishes will come off easily with a light solvent, but turn into old chewing gum if you try to sand it.
Aristokraft cabinets made in the year 2000. The door I'm looking at is a solid wood frame with a plywood panel, stained a maple color and topcoated with clear. I'm thinking lacquer, but could be shellac? Almost certainly not varnish or poly.
The stained wood is perfect. Only the clear topcoat is lifting and flaking off. I'd like to remove the clear and re-coat.
Anybody know if I can use a card scraper to remove just the top coat?
I would go with lacquer as a strong possibilty as well. Sanding is a fine option to knock off the delaminated parts and scuff the surface, and a top coat of more lacquer should blend in just fine. I would try spraying a little lacquer on the back somewhere. If it bubbles or discolors the finish, it's probably a poly/urethane. If that's the case, I would suggest sanding the finish off and re-coating.
Shellac is highly unlikely as it is not very tolerant to water and wear. It's easy to test, though. Take a drop of nail polish remover and put a drop on the back. Wait 10 minutes. If it wrinkles up like your fingers when you stay in the bath too long, and it wipes off as a smeary dot, it's shellac. But not likely.
Asas_dad did a great writeup, so I strongly suggest finding that thread.
1988RedT2 said:Anybody know if I can use a card scraper to remove just the top coat?
Maybe? You'll end up likely sanding as much as just starting with 80 grit to get the card scrapes out of the surface.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Asas_dad did a great writeup, so I strongly suggest finding that thread.
The only one I was able to find addressed clear finishes on exterior surfaces.
Being relatively new, I'd bet against shellac. Most manufacturers are enamored with the modern finishes for a variety of reasons.
Not familiar with these guys, though.
Yeah, it was someone's garage door, but I think I recall at least one post about finishing chemistry and application.
Mr_Asa's dad chimed in on one of my vintage radio desecration threads. He shows up at the end of page 1.
And it looks like I never actually finished with that.
Here are all his forum posts: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/Asas_Dad/comments/
alfadriver said:In reply to 1988RedT2 :
I tried a blade from a paint scrapper held vertically and it worked. But the guy had a credit card sized blade with rounded corners that is probably safer. No sharp edges to gouge the surface.
The YT channel I saw was Dashner Design and Restoration. You can see how he scrapes a surface to start a restoration.
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