Please come and talk to me if you know about stripping/restoring old furniture

[OTheHugeManatee]

I have an old 6'x3'x2'6" free-standing cupboard, that's been in the family for aaages, prob Victorian or Edwardian vintage.

It's made of beautiful, solid dark wood (my guess is cherry or mahogany) but has been living in sculleries, garages and so on for the last 70 years and was painted over on the outside with nasty brown paint, which is now peeling.

I would love to strip it back to wood and keep using it (it's currently used as a storage cupboard in my wee flat) but don't want to damage it and so don't know the best way to do this. I asked at a local place that does some furniture refurbishment but they said they won't do paint stripping.

Does anyone have experience of stripping and restoring old furniture like this who could advise me?

TIA x

[MrsThisIsTheCadillacOfNailguns]

I've done a bit in the past and used Nitromors.I'd check first on an inobtrusive place just in case,but I can't imagine it would do any damage.It might take any old varnish/polish off in a worst case scenario,but you could always repolish/wax/varnish it afterwards.

[goldenpeach]

My dad was furniture restored and had stuff stripped and dipped if too big, but mostly he did it himself. I did some pieces of mine, just buy some paint stripper from homebase and get the paint off. You won't ruin it, the paint has actually devalued it. Be careful stripping, don't use abrasive things, perhaps a wooden cooking spatula would work well. When it's all dry you can always use sandpaper for those hard to get bits. There is also wire wool for gently removing paint if you have carvings but in first instance use a brush. When stripped and dry, do give it a couple of coatings (with space in between) of woodworm solution (they are sold in homebase and everywhere else). IF it has been in damp buildings you might have some. If the wood is good when stripped, you can just stain it with a suitable stain, if not, you need to buy wood filler to repair big gashes (little scratches and wood worm holes add to character, so no need to sort those). If you have to do some repair, you might have to paint it as varnish/staining show repairs. Try online, I did find a guide when I restored a cast iron fireplace, so you are bound to find something, especially on historical societies pages (Victorian). Check your local library too.