Thread: Best way to remove garden furniture varnish

I would like to pick you guys' brains. The varnish of our garden furniture looks awful. I would like to remove it and oil the table and 4 chairs instead. What is the best way to go? Sanding? Paint stripper?

Originally Posted by Kees

I would like to pick you guys' brains. The varnish of our garden furniture looks awful. I would like to remove it and oil the table and 4 chairs instead. What is the best way to go? Sanding? Paint stripper?

One of my first jobs was in a piano shop. I was stripping old piano's so they could be french polished and resold.

I used paintstripper and wire wool.

I have stripped a few pieces of furniture with chemical stripper. On garden furniture if the old finish is quite flaky and coming off easily, I would try a wood scraper first on the flat spots and steel wool is an incredible tool for cleaning wood.it is fast and conforms to shape very effectively. Also a paste wax finish may be slightly more durable and as easy to maintain and is compatible with many oils.

ObligatoryJoke:

Q: What's green, and only comes out on St. Patrick's Day?
A: Patio furniture!

Where I live, just putting the furniture outside for a week or two generally suffices to remove any finish. And the squirrels will dispose of the cushion stuffing for you -- conveniently locating it high up in the nearest trees.

Sandpaper and elbow grease. Forget the nasty chemicals. Not only are they bad for the environment, they eat lung tissue! With all the crap going now, you need all the lung tissue that you have!