What Kind of Godless Goo was put on furniture in the 60/70's?

[Oceans64]

 I wanted a footstool for Nana's chair and most folks on eBay really have no intention of selling theirs (judging from their asking price) so I went to Goodwill and found a couple of old chairs that would (somewhat) match the pattern and cut them up for parts.  For the past few nights, I have been trying to figure out how to get the finish off them so I can stain to match the chair...  Here's what I've done so far...

Clean with Min Spirits - didn't touch the finish but didn't expect it to...
Used the lacquer thinner...  Nothing
Used denatured alcohol... Little more dull but by now I'm thinking could be all the rubbing with steel wool...
Got out the finger nail polish remover which has unintentionally ruined a few pieces of my furniture in the past... Nothing....

I am down to my last weapon.  Paint stripper.  It's slowly coming off in a yellow crystallized goo and is taking several treatments...

Is there a better way?  My best guess is the chairs were from the 60’s – maybe early 70’s.

[regularjoe2]

I feel your pain , O64 ...

Paint stripper (gel type) is about the best thing to use for your described project , IMO .

One never really knows (when removing paint) what will be revealed underneath opaque paints , wood & grain-wise .
I'm hoping you'll be pleasantly surprised !

(The best way to do it is to have somebody else suffer the messy , stinky & toxic process , though !)


 

[waywardangler]

I would guess it was polyurethane.

[cogar]

Yes, I agree with Wayward.

Use a "scraper" to remove it and you won't have the "goo & gom" but a lot of dust n' scrapings.

And the bestest "scrapers" are old mowing machine "sickle bar" knives.

To wit, the triangle-shaped blades pictured below:

Just sharpen them up, really sharp, with a grinder ....... and while applying pressure ....... drag them backwards while holding the blade perpendicular (90 degrees or a little less) to the surface being "scraped" and the paint, varnish, etc., will be cut off right down to the bare wood.

But Never, never scrape with the edge of the blade pointing in the direction you are scraping or it will cut right into the wood.

Small square/oblong pieces of window glass makes good scrapers for some finishes but the glass gets dull too quickly.

[Oceans64]

I don’t think I am pleasantly surprised by what was underneath but it will do since I’ll be staining and it will be small.

I figured it had to be polyurethane but I’ve never had that much trouble getting it off and it’s thick!! I don’t think it was evaporation.  The stripper is a couple years old (altho it still managed to burn my skin in an unfortunate splashing incident).  I stuck with it and only have to work on the easy (flat) pieces today.  Mostly I have to keep my patience.

Cougar – Those are way cool.  Where does one find sickle bars?

[waywardangler]

Cogar, I have heard about glass but that is the first time I have heard about sickle bar blades.  Great piece of info!  Oceans, used farm implement dealers, junk dealers, or if you know a long time farmer should have the blades.

[KC]

Nice idea.  Knew about the glass as well...but not the mower blade.  Hmmmm....just one more thing to add to the list to look for!

[Sara Finn]

I like to use flat brass stock for scrapers, since it's easy to sharpen&/or dull & cut into custom contours.
 

[cogar]

If you find an old sickle bar with knives on it they are easy to remove with a hammer & chisel. Just place the chisel against the back edge of the blade in line with one of the rivets and hit it with the hammer. It will shear the rivet in to.

You can buy new blades but they have serrated edges and you would have to grind them smooth.

I have 3 of those blades out in the garage on a shelf, have used them for years. When they are not working right to suit me I get my belt sander out and sharpen them up. A belt sander is great for sharpening lawnmower blades also.

One of the blades I sharpen to a fine “point” for scraping in corners, edges, etc.

Another blade I sharpen with a rounded “point” for scraping concave surfaces or grooves.