Removing acrylic varnish

[Richard_C]

Suppose this should be in an "unfinishing" forum. I have a Yew slab coffee table finished with 3 or 4 coats of acrylic varnish, all a bit shabby now. I could surface sand and recoat, but ideally I would take it back to bare wood and start again with an oil finish. It's c. 1200x400 (mm, not inches ) lovely grain and well worth some effort.

Sanding with a vibrating sander sort of works, but clogs the abrasive quickly and will take ages. I'm guessing that paint stripper used for oil based finishes won't work, so any better ideas for removing old acrylic varnish?

 

[Myfordman]

Proper Methylene Chloride paint stripper applied (without getting it on your skin!) will be fine. Purchase on Ebay or similar as stuff you can get over the counter has been nanny neutered and is virtually useless now.

 

[recipio]

Get a few '3M paint and varnish stripper wheels '. They do a great job in an electric drill but raise a sandstorm of dust. They are an American product and tricky to find unfortunately.

 

[Distinterior]

Try using a "Mesh" abrasive rather than a cloth/paper backed abrasive.....The mesh is far less prone to clogging and the dust extraction is far superior.

 

[robgul]

Proper Methylene Chloride paint stripper applied (without getting it on your skin!) will be fine. Purchase on Ebay or similar as stuff you can get over the counter has been nanny neutered and is virtually useless now.

Agreed, Nitromors is like lemonade nowadays . . . I've found that Barrettine Paint Panther is pretty good (Paramose is the absolute best but you need to be a "professional" - or say you are - to be able to buy the stuff)

 

[MF1000]

Alternatively you could use a router with a spill board bit to take 0.5mm off the slab

 

[eribaMotters]

How about scraping it off then flood with Meths. I found out to my cost that Meths will dissolve acrylic eggshell paint, so I'm guessing it may work on the varnish.

Colin

 

[Sideways]

Acetone is the classic nail varnish remover and I think nail varnish is acrylic.
Pick a hidden corner, pour some on and take a scraper to it pronto in case the softening effect doesn't last long.

Acetone is a much less aggressive chemical than (standard, spray) paint thinners. Fairly cheap bough by the gallon on ebay.

Removing the acrylic should, hopefully, leave you with an easier sanding job to prepare the surface for a new finish but you'll need to get it all off or the oil won't soak in evenly.

 

[Sideways]

Alternatively you could use a router with a spill board bit to take 0.5mm off the slab

Metabo paint planer is made for exactly that job. Adjustable 0.0-0.3mm a pass.

 

[Richard_C]

Thanks all for the varied ideas. I see that Screwfix do the scrubber wheels that go on an angle grinder. Might not be as good a 3M but easy to get hold of. Will probably try that first then escalate. Its a good weather job done to be outside I think. I do have a very old Bosch electric planer that can be set to 0.3mm, use it so infrequently I forgot it was there. Might try that if I make a mess of it by other means.