wullie! stripping question (no not that kind!)

[sapphire]

I picked up on this in the chair thread.......


"double zero steel wool should be used...
but  not used on oak, because remaining traces of iron may react with tannins in the wood to produce blue or black iron stain. Bronze wool or stainless steel wool may be used to avoid this"

And am wondering if this is what happened to my sideboard when it was stripped at some time in it's life...........and how do I fix/avoid it when redoing??  Are you saying I shouldn't strip it......that the whole thing needs to be done by hand? (please say I don't!!)

[sapphire]

Close up.......


As you can see, it happened everywhere any of the original nails are located 

[mart]

Have not seen pics yet , but if you are talking about the darkening immediately around the nail, that is not caused by any stripper that may have been used or steel wool !! Old nails will do that naturally with some woods !!  Later they were coated to prevent it !! I have stripped furniture with all kind of chemical strippers and I personally have never had one to darken !! I used 4-0 steel wool for final cleaning on most all of them !! Perhaps some strippers will do this but I have not run across that problem myself !!

[sapphire]

mart, don't know if the 'darkening' around the nails is the same as the dark black stains radiating out from mine......some darkening I would understand but much of mine extends up to an inch or more out from them.

A customer of mine who restores musical instruments mentioned using oxalic acid to bleach, then a wash with borax and water to cleanse the area. Not sure if that would work or is safe. Whatever the solution, I can see it being a very long, tedious project.

[bigwull]

I picked up on this in the chair thread.......


"double zero steel wool should be used...
but  not used on oak, because remaining traces of iron may react with tannins in the wood to produce blue or black iron stain. Bronze wool or stainless steel wool may be used to avoid this"

And am wondering if this is what happened to my sideboard when it was stripped at some time in it's life...........and how do I fix/avoid it when redoing??  Are you saying I shouldn't strip it......that the whole thing needs to be done by hand? (please say I don't!!)

Drat!...and here was me thinking.... ...this sideboard looks like its been done with a hot air gun, hence the marks that look like burn marks...from holding the gun to close,if it had been stripped using a liquid chemical the degree of staining to the wood would have been more uniform..and over a much greater area...as chemical strippers are non selective....Get yourself some fine steel wool,...stainless or bronze..and try it on a mark that is.nt so obvious....

[bigwull]

Have not seen pics yet , but if you are talking about the darkening immediately around the nail, that is not caused by any stripper that may have been used or steel wool !! Old nails will do that naturally with some woods !!  Later they were coated to prevent it !! I have stripped furniture with all kind of chemical strippers and I personally have never had one to darken !! I used 4-0 steel wool for final cleaning on most all of them !! Perhaps some strippers will do this but I have not run across that problem myself !!

4-0 = double zero....i.e.0000

[sapphire]

wullie, if you think this is a nightmare wait till you see the 'repair' jobs done on it by someone who didn't understand the concept of glue..........and was staple gun (and duct tape) happy.

[bigwull]

Well, Staplegun Kelly...as we will call him...tried to take the easy road,..as for that break in the moulding...it is repairable,with a little care...what you need is this stuff...
Brummer Interior wood filler..see link,..it comes in light ,medium or dark oak, and various other colours, its the tin with the yellow label,..the one at the top of the list,..

http://www.woodfillers.co.uk/yellow-label.htm

[sapphire]

Now if only we had it over <here> !!   

[bigwull]

Now if only we had it over <here> !!   

...red oak filler its in the US...but they will post to foreign lands...

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Red-Oak-Wood-Filler-Elmers-no-E860-/230822079562?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35be116c4a

[mart]

I agree with Wullie !!  That was not done with stripper, and it is not a natural thing from uncoated nails !!  Heat gun is likely the culprit !! Literally scorched the wood !! Has this had a finish put on ?? Or just a wax or oil treatment ??   Easiest way to treat those stains is to hide and blend in !!  Its pretty easy to do !! I have had to hide and blend quite a number of india ink stains on oak furniture !!

[sapphire]

I agree with Wullie !!  That was not done with stripper, and it is not a natural thing from uncoated nails !!  Heat gun is likely the culprit !! Literally scorched the wood !! Has this had a finish put on ?? Or just a wax or oil treatment ??   Easiest way to treat those stains is to hide and blend in !!  Its pretty easy to do !! I have had to hide and blend quite a number of india ink stains on oak furniture !!

What I can't figure is that each and every one of those marks surrounds an old nail. I thought it was possibly from the nail oxidizing from the stripping or the new coat of varnish (whatever they used)......yes, it's been revarnished and not just one coat by the look of it.

I do plan on staining darker, originally wanted mahogany.....but I think it was KC who recommended NOT to go mahogany as the color of the oak may cause the 'red' to go orangish. So figured I head towards walnut. That in itself should help with blending, but there is such a terrible contrast that those individual spots (all 100+ it seems) are going to need attention first.  I'm going to try this winter to get section by section stripped, as with a parrot in the house I have to be careful not to overload the air with chemicals.

[KC]

I was thinking I was seeing something new....agree have never seen a chemical do that.

Have seen a heat gun (and iron) do this kind of discoloration!

[mart]

I think the heat gun overheated the nails !!  Thats why its around each one !!

[sapphire]

So I could likely be dealing with burn marks rather than a chemical reaction?