How to... strip pine furniture?

[ditzydaizy]

Does anyone here know how the strip pine furniture? We have a dining suite which has gone that horrible orange colour... it's been with us all our married life and is absolutely fine, apart from this colour. I am loathe to replace it just because of that, it has plenty of life left in it and the table is a lovely big one, so useful for many things.

I did try Googling, 'How to strip pine furniture' and got offered lap dancing lessons to improve my love life, and places that sell stripped pine furniture, or do it, none of which was within fifty miles of me anyway.

So has anyone stripped pine furniture, or have any knowledge of it please?

[franbee]

I've just googled dip strip pine and there's quite a few on there, might be worth another look. Dipping is the quickest way to go.

[sheddie]

To handstrip would take forever, it sounds to me like a tank job. X

[ditzydaizy]

There isn't anyone within fifty miles of me who does this in a tank... and really, with a power sander it's not going to take long if I end up doing it myself. The one disadvantage to taking it somewhere, even if I were prepared to pay the exhorbitant cost of petrol to do so, is that there is a lingering smell... which figures really since they use strong chemicals, which will leech into the wood.

[joyceybug]

I recently decided to tackle a pitch pine cabinet, huge affair, that I had decided to paint. After trying commercial paint stripping goo, and getting nowhere, I remembered that we had a hot air gun somewhere and, although it was hard work, it was magic. Finally stripped, primed, undercoated and eggshelled !!! it looks magnificent. You would perhaps need to try a patch under the table , for example, if you decided to go this route.Happy stripping ditzy.

[Oola]

Does the pine have any sort of polish or varnish on it? If so, like joyceybug says a heat gun would do the job, although it does take a while. We have a pine door and I stripped it with a heat gun -the paint was the easy part but the side that was varnished took quite a bit longer. Then it needed a sand with fine sandpaper. I don't really know of a better solution, but I do know that there are eco varnish and paint strippers available as an alternative to the synthetic chemical ones.

[Crocus]

I also have some pine furniture with this orange colour and I wish I could get rid of it too! The table is massively heavy and there's 8 chairs and a cupbourd as well. x

[jazzactivist]

Hi ditzydaisy, I find that if the pine has aged naturally to that orange colour with no finish on it then there isn't much that you can do, other than try artificially liming it to make it look lighter. Commercial paint strippers can actually make the orange a deeper colour! I would go for the sander option first, as whatever the finish you can't do anything irreparable by sanding the wood and might make a huge improvement.

[lily]

I've stripped victorian painted pine using first a hot gun and then Nitromors. Then finishing with a power sander. Quite hard work, but satisfying when done and you don't run the risks of weakened joints as in tank stripping. Also tank stripping is very harsh and tends to leave rather faded looking wood. I've been working outside in the sunshine and that makes it a less of a chore. I would experiment on an odd out of sight bit to see the effects.If the orangeyness is due to varnish, you might get a good result with Nitromors and a light sand.

[joyceybug]

I bought an eco friendly paint stripper when I first decided to tackle our big cupboard. It was more expensive than Nitromors etc., but it was useless.

[lily]

Think its probably the same stuff I tried, it seemed to soak into the wood which went "fuzzy". I threw it out in the end.

[TIGGYWINKLE]

Just be careful of stripping by hand. I did 4 kitchen chairs some years ago, and developed Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. It just wasn't worth it,or the pain I suffered.Now I've painted them antique white, as they needed to be done again, and I'm in to my painted furniture phase.

[sandybay]

I agree with Tiggywinkle, Ditzy,

Why not use paint ? Farrow and Ball do some lovely colours.

[Pippa]

If you paint pine furniture, do you have to use knotting solution first? I have a ceiling and some furniture I would love to paint, but the amount of knots put me off. The wood has been stained but not varnished.

[TIGGYWINKLE]

Dear Pippa,
I use short cuts at this stage. I just sand lightly, fill whats needed, two coats of primer cum undercoat, and then finish coat. I use satin finish, sometimes two coats, though I am inclined to do a touch up each Spring. Dulux do a heavy wear Satin Finish. I used to do a clear spray varnish, but I don't bother now. Use a small roller for table tops for a better finish. Good luck.