Antique Furniture Refinishing – question

[Marlene]

I have purchased an antique dining room suite that is mahogany. Tops of the table and sideboard are stained dark, while the fronts and sides look to be painted a cream color with gold guilding. Would like to strip all, and then re-stain. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this task?

[Heidi]

Marlene,

I stripped and refinished an oak rocker and found it easier to use spray on stripper. Refinishing could devalue your antique.

[Henry in MI]

Marlene, there is a lot of refinishing basic info at http://wickswww.freeyellow.com/refinish.html.

Unless your table really is 100 years old, I would not worry too much about trying to preserve the current finish. A couple of exceptions to this are if a close exam shows that the paint is there to hide other defects, like missing veneer, or a check of the back edges shows that the painted areas are plywood or something similar. It could be a little difficult to blend the plywood finish color to the rest of the piece if it’s really mahogany. Be aware too, that modern furniture can have finishes that really sort of look like wood but are strictly achieved by what really is faux finishing on a commercial scale. Knowing where you are really starting from is critical to determining where you can finish.

Henry in MI

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