Stripping Stew Mac Waterbase

[Johnny Foreigner]

I need to strip back a finish I did with stew Mac waterbase. Rather than sanding, is there a sensible chemical solution?

[Drak]

Well, since I have stripped off my own mistakes more times than I care to mention ( )...

I almost always use a heat gun these days.

Unless there's some issue that would prohibit it, it's really the fastest way to strip off the majority of it.

And you can buy a heat gun for probably the same price you'd buy a bunch of stripper and paper towels and stuff, I think they run about $30.00 or so.

There are right ways and wrong ways, you have to have the right kind of putty knife (pretty rigid, not a super-Gumby), and you have to be aware how to use it.

If you dig in at the wrong angle, you'll dig a divot in your wood, so you have to be very aware, but once you get the hang of it, you can strip the majority of a finish off in an hour or so w/o any slimy chemicals.

As well, you have to control the heat...you want to SOFTEN the finish enough to slide your knife under it and peel it off, you don't want it to smolder, smoke, or catch fire, that will actually burn the wood underneath and make things worse.

You keep the gun moving around to prevent any one area from catching smoke.

It's pretty easy if you just go slow and are aware of those basic issues tho.

[DC Ross]

If you don't want to go the heatgun route, a healthy (cough) dose of denatured alcohol may do the trick.

[wander]

i've used acetone and 0000 steel wool to get some tough 100 year old shellac off before, not the prettiest way to do it, but it worked and only a minimum of sanding afterwards. get some good gloves though

[3DogNate]

A cabinet scraper would be faster and less messy than about any otehr means you can come up with.