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| Leave it to the pro. Michael Dresdner, a nationally known wood finishing and woodworking expert, has answered hundreds of common wood finishing questions in Varathane’s Q&A library to help you successfully complete your project. Click on a link to the left for help and solid advice. |
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| Q: Is paint remover better to use than a chemical stripper?
A: Paint remover is a chemical stripper. Those are two names for the same thing. |  | |
| Q: I have some routed slab doors that have very rough profiles and edges due to the tooling. Do you know of any type of chemical or sanding technique that I could use to remove the roughness without damaging the doors?
A: I don’t know what you mean by routed slab doors, but it rather goes without saying that except for special textured surfaces, pretty much all woodwork gets sanded prior to finishing. Sanding raw wood won’t ruin anything if it is done right, but the fact that you asked suggests there is more afoot here than you are telling me. Perhaps you want to explain why you are worried about something as mundane as sanding, or what, exactly, you mean by roughness. Perhaps that will shed some light on this somewhat unusual question. | | |
| Q: Will cleaning with mineral spirits take off a finish?
A: Mineral spirits will not harm any film type finish. It can remove dirt, grease, some types of furniture polish and wax, but will not have any effect on shellac, lacquer, varnish, polyurethane, polyester, acrylic or any other common film forming finish. | | |
| Q: Someone said to use leveler to create uniform staining, but I haven’t found any reference to this on the net.
A: My guess is they are talking about wood conditioner, but that is a product only used in certain circumstances. Some woods, notably cherry, softwoods, and a few woods that grow with twisted grain, such as birch and maple, will take stain unevenly and will show blotching. Wood conditioner helps control that when it is paired with its same brand of stain. Typically it is oil based and meant to work only with oil based stain. You flood it on, wipe it all off, then stain while the wood is still wet. It is essentially clear, colorless stain. It works by pre-loading the areas prone to absorb too much stain first, so that when you apply the stain itself, it goes on more uniformly, though admittedly lighter as well. |
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