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Renoving a finish

J

Jerry Lear

Joined
May 4, 2012
Messages
37
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Location
Baldwin, Maeyland
I turned a walnut vase. After sanding, I applied Yorkshire grit and 5 coats of General Wood Bowl Finish. Evidently, I did not wait long enough between coats and the finish did not completely dry. Not realizing it was not dry, I attempted to buff it and in a number of places, some of the finish was buffed off. I think the only way to salvage the vase is to remove the finish and start over. Aside from sanding the finish off, is there anything I can do to get some of the finished removed to reduce sanding time? As I am sure you know, this is a oil/varnish base finish.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Jerry
 
See what the solvent is for general finishes and try that. If its water based your pretty much stuck with sanding unless you can put it back on the lathe. If you can I would shear scrape off the old finish.
 
You might have luck with mineral spirits. Though, depending on the grain and quality of surface, you may end up with splotches. Like John said above, if shear scraping is an option, that could be the most ideal approach.
 
when sanding off film finishes, I have had much better luck wet sanding with walnut oil. The sandpaper does not clog and it goes much faster. Be prepared to wait a couple weeks to let the walnut oil cure before adding any varnish on top. In the winter, I sometimes put the bowl in my oven using "Warm" which has a setpoint of maybe 170 F, this accelerates the curing of the walnut oil.
 
An oil varnish mix once dried cannot be removed by a simple solvent. Paint stripper will remove it, but I personally wouldn't want to go there.

If you can't remount and turn it off, your option is sanding.
 
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