Refinishing an antique dresser

[heather6773]

I have an antique dresser my parents gave my son. The only problem is about 3-5 coats of paint is hiding the natural wood. Does anyone know of an easy paint stripper I can use. Someone told me about a stripper that you put on and wait and the paint just scapes off. I should take a picture of before and after. I have never done this but would love to save this dresser. We already put new hardware because when we got it it had about 2 knobs for 4 drawers.:rolleyes:

[ParagonEos]

I love Antique furniture, I dont know of any of that stuff, but good luck!!

[meliz]

Hey Heather! Yes, you can get chemical paint removers. I have used them on old chairs and they really really work-- the paint just bubbles off. But wow, this is a potent chemical! Kind of super-scarey-strong stuff (there's so much alcohol in them that your hands freeze from evaporation even when you wear rubber gloves-- which you must). If the dresser is super valuable you might want to call an antique store or something and ask them about the pros and cons of using the stuff, as I wonder how old wood handles such a harsh chemical. But my experience is, it really does work, and very quickly too. Sorry I can't remember brand names. :)

Another option would be to get a very fine grain sand paper and sand it down, layer by layer, but that would be very labour intensive, I think.

[Turtleheadfred]

Heather - I was looking into the same thing to refinish a dressing table my daddy bought before he and my mom were married. My sister had been using it and ruined the top.

I don't know about the strippers, but I decided the best thing to do was take a picture ahead of time (since mine was original wood and I was restoring it) and then carry it to a wood shop down the street and they dipped it. It didn't cost that much in comparison and they did the table, attached mirror and seating bench and refinished all of it with three types of stain to match the other pieces.

I was afraid of what would happen otherwise because of it's value. They also told me it was best that I'd done that because of the age... sometimes the old formula paints and varnishes don't react well with new chemicals... you just never know.

Good luck!!! Let us know how it turns out!