sand blasting oak dresser?

[lilleville]

Hi, can anyone help? I have an old oak dresser in very dark varnish which I want to clean up and wax in a more natural finish. What would you do? I want to get it sandblasted because there are so many nooks and crannies on it that I think it will be the only way to clean it up completely. Do you have any suggestions? And can anyone recommend a good company for the job in Herts / Bucks? Thanks

 

[woodfinishes1877]

Why not do it yourself? How old is the dresser? If it's over 70 years old it's more likely to have been finished with a shellac polish. If this is the case you'll be able to scrape it off with a cabinet scraper and apply a new finish. If it's more recent than that then using a stripper such as Nitromors Specialist Varnish Remover will do the job. Then all you need to do is sand it until smooth and apply a new finish.

hope this helps

Ian McAslan - Smith & Rodger

 

[lilleville]

Thank you. What about all its nooks and crannies though? How do i get the old varnish out of the cracks?

 

[woodfinishes1877]

Paint scraper, coarse scotchbrite pad, wire brush. All should help get into those awkward areas.

Ian

 

[lilleville]

Great, thanks

 

[frascati]

Sandblasting wood is really problematic. Depending on type, and oak is probably one of the worse ones, there is a variety of hard and soft section depending on grain. Sandblasting quickly reduces the soft and slowly reduces the hard. You end up with a contour map of grain that would be next to impossible to repair without major resanding to level with a conventional sander.

Quite often it's not difficult at all, especially with older furniture, to disassemble entirely (no more nooks/crannies). Carefully remove any screws and just tap apart old glued or nailed joints with a plastic faced hammer. Sand , reglue, and reassemble.