How to remove varnish from a wooden surface?

It happens in life that an old chest of drawers, a chair or a table, is tired of your appearance, but its functionality has not ceased to amaze you. You decided to change the appearance of this product, and the first step is to remove the varnish, but you do not know how to remove the varnish from a wooden surface. In this case, you need to get the right information about it. In this article, we have selected for you the most relevant materials on varnish removal using various technologies.

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Why is it necessary to eliminate varnish from wood?

First of all, it is necessary to understand that removing the paintwork from the tree is necessary in order to completely expose the surface of the tree. After that, using various means, you can update its texture, provide old furniture with a more elegant look, thereby giving it an antique value.

Before you remove the varnish from the tree, you must understand that this procedure requires a lot of patience, as well as the fact that it is carried out quite carefully, in several stages. Even the most minor damage to wood is simply unacceptable.

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Chemical treatment

This method of eliminating varnish coating implies a fairly simple process - apply some chemical composition to the surface of the wood. From it, a layer of old paint will begin to peel off and seem to lag behind the wood surface.

Important! Pay attention to the fact that you should not even try to eliminate the old lacquered surface on the panels of particleboard. Together with a layer of varnish you remove the main decorative film. As a result, you can basically forget about the pleasant appearance of the product. Effectively remove the varnish is possible only from the surface of natural wood.

You can remove the varnish with gels, powders, special fluids, or simply with a universal solvent like acetone.

Means selection:

• In the event that your wood surface is covered with shellac, then it will be more effective to clean the entire old layer with the most ordinary denatured alcohol.
• Liquid formulations are especially good where it is necessary to eliminate a maximum of several layers. This is done because the liquid quickly erodes, respectively - because of this effect, it cannot be absorbed deep enough.
• Powders are relevant in those cases in which the amount of necessary work is incredibly large, so these materials can be stored for a long time.
• Gels and pastes are conveniently used to clean a fairly large number of layers of old paint or varnish.

Work sequence

Now let's talk about the sequence of work - a brief instruction on how to remove varnish from a wooden surface using chemistry:

1. Take a brush, dip it in liquid, and then apply the composition to the plane you are going to work with. At the same time, try to apply the mass in such a way that the brush is directed in one direction, and also so that it does not pass one area twice.
2. Cover the entire treated surface with a film - this is done so that the entire applied wash is not weathered and absorbed as deep as possible.
3. Hold the film for 1-4 hours.The rule here is simple - the more layers you need to eliminate, the longer do not remove the film. But by and large, if it is visible that the applied paste has changed its color, darkened, and the varnish supposedly has swelled, then you can proceed to the next stage of work.
4. Take an ordinary spatula, whose width will be approximately 10 cm, and then carefully begin to remove the old layers of varnish. In this case, pay attention to the thickness of the layer, because if it is thin, it may be enough to walk along its surface with ordinary sandpaper.
5. Now neutralize the chemical effect of the wash directly on the surface. For this operation, either ordinary water or the water into which you add vinegar is suitable. Just grab and flush all the chemistry. Then wipe the plane with a flannel rag and wait until the wood is completely dry.

Useful advice

Since, most likely, you will come across the most ordinary spatula, namely with sharp edges, we recommend that you slightly round them with a grinder. The thing is, if the edges are sharp, then there is a risk of directly damaging the wooden surface during the removal of varnish. A safer way is to take a plastic spatula, but they will have to work longer.

Important! Work with chemicals very carefully. Use protective gloves, respirators, thoroughly ventilate the room. Otherwise, you can cause irreparable harm to your own health.

Pros and Cons of Chemistry:

1. High speed and process efficiency are the main advantages of using solvents.
2. The possibility of damage to the structure of the material with an improperly selected substance or its incorrect use, as well as the risk of allergies, poisoning are obvious disadvantages of this method.

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The mechanical way to remove varnish

It is possible to remove varnish from a wooden surface by direct physical exposure.

Putty knife

In fact, this method is a surface cycling, in other words, it is the most ordinary peeling of a layer with a special tool. The tool is a sharpened plate, which is made of steel. It must be fixed at an angle in order to increase pressure on the wooden plane, which is varnished.

Sandpaper

Also to the mechanical method include cleaning the surface with sandpaper manually or by means of a grinder. That is, an ordinary grinder is taken, a circle is attached to the rotational mechanism along with sandpaper.

Important! This method is good, but keep in mind that it is suitable only for planes whose layer thickness is small.

Pros and cons of the mechanical option:

1. What is the main advantage of the mechanical removal of varnish, is that sharp, toxic odors are completely eliminated. In addition, the wood itself is not subject to deterioration from exposure to liquids, as well as moisture.
2. If we talk about the disadvantages of this technology, they are very obvious - it will take a long and tedious time to clean the surface using a looping machine or the same emery. That is why, if you will remove the varnish with your own hands with the help of mechanical cleaning, then stock up on incredible patience. And besides, a lot of strength will also be needed here.

Important! When working with grinders, a very large amount of dust enters the air from the working surface. Therefore, if the work is performed directly in the living room, be sure to cover with a film all valuable items, and also do not forget about a respirator and glasses.

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The correct procedure for applying a new paint coat

An approximate scheme of work should look like this:

1. Sand the entire wooden surface with sandpaper. As a rule, they first work with the help of a large fraction, and then gradually switch to fine-grained paper.
2. Then protect the tree from signs of decay, breeding bugs, mold. This is done quite simply - pour antiseptic liquid into a special jar and with a brush apply on the entire wooden surface. Try to soak the tree properly so that the antiseptic penetrates as deep as possible into the wood structure.
3. When the antiseptic layer is completely dry, take a stain, paint or varnish, carefully apply one or several layers to the wood surface. This is usually done with a brush or roller. The main thing - be sure to wait until each of the previous layers has completely dried.

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Stock footage

That's all, now you know how to remove varnish from a wooden surface and apply a new layer of it. We hope that the information that was collected in this article was useful to you.