Recharged !!

Sometimes you work on a project and it just takes too long, or too much effort. And that sours you on ever doing that type of project ever again. This is how it is for me and stripping furniture.

What a colossal pain in the butt furniture stripping is. It is messy, disgusting, and can be a real health hazard (chemical fumes can cause brain damage without good ventilation). I knew this from long ago but haven't done any stripping in years. So, I though that this little chest of drawers would go fairly easily. It is taking SO MUCH TIME to get down to bare wood. And after a while the putty knives just push around the slime of paint goo and stripper.

Yesterday I was looking for a box of screws and nails and I found a box labeled "Stripping and Refinishing tools." Inside the box I found some things that I had forgotten about...Scotch Brite pads and a handle for them. I don't recall ever using them, so it must have been my ex. Anyway, there was a pad in the box that was just LOADED with dried gunk. I threw that away and have 3 more "rough" ones and 2 new "finish" ones. I went to my chemicals cabinet in the workshop and found that I have some chemical stripper that is much thinner than the pastes I have been using. So I poured some on the wood and set to it with the Scotch Brite pad and handle. To my surprise, this was the miracle I had been WAITING for.

The "weave" of the "SB" pad holds the gunk. The rubbing back and forth forces the gunk up into the weave. It doesn't just smear it around until it gets filled up. After a little while you take the pad off and go rinse it. I have 3 of them, so 2 can dry out in the sun while using the third. Using these pads I almost COMPLETELY stripped one side of the chest in just a couple of minutes. And that is down to BARE wood. No filmy goo residue. None !!

So, I am recharged and can't WAIT to finish this chest. It will be so easy now !! Sorry, no project pictures. It would take too long to clean up my hands, snap a pic, get back to work, and repeat. Will take pics of the bare chest when done, and how it is transformed to put into use.