getting in to those curved ,tricky places.

I have been a passionate collector of silky oak all my life and now am the proud owner of a more ornate dining setting with barley twist legs.this setting has typically been darkly shellaced and stained and it has to go.I love my wood and to see the silky oak grain is more valued to me.I have made my fingers raw with cutting pieces of sandpaper to get into these very hard spots to clean out old varnish,shellac etc; and then to fine sand them. surely there are tools out there to make this type of work a little easier?? or do the professionals keep these a secret from the " do it myself " people so they get to stay in business?? I am not adverse to hard work and will do the hard labourious work for the love of it but other work is piling up in the meantime. we own a dremel but personally,I don't see the attraction. :)

Great wood to work with, especialy as the grain begins to show through the grime. I have a couple of methods for those tricky places. I was given a set of small wood working tools of various shapes. They sit in the hand nicely and can usually scrape out those hard to reach places. Use gently though or you will cut the wood rather than scrape it. No doubt you have used steel wool? You can buy it by the roll and tear off a small piece, shape that to fit corners etc.

Sometimes I have decided to leave certain turnings/sections a little darker in colour than the rest of the piece. This gives a nice antique light/shade efect. Hope that helps..,. cheers, tills

Yep, cabinet scrapers and or steel wool and metho.

Start off with grade #2 then #1 gets most things out.





Cheers


Steve

How about using the replaceable blade from a Robert Sorby Multi-scraper? If you were to mount this on the end of a bar at a right angle it would resemble an old-fashioned paint scraper, but much smaller. The french curve shape of the round section may fit perfectly and would be quicker than shaping and preparing a range of cabinet scrapers. They also come in two sizes.

As this is made from HSS and rather sharp it would have to be used with care to avoid removing wood but I reckon it will speed up the restoration process considerably.

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Originally Posted by toolbagsplus

yep, cabinet scrapers and or steel wool and metho.

Start off with grade #2 then #1 gets most things out.

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+1 :)

I'm with Tillys', if you clean up the turned sections to much with scrapers etc, you can cut & damage the wood, the same goes for sand paper; use steel wool & metho, that way you will get a good antique look; and it helps show off the turnings.
Spend your time on the top without going overboard.
I've ruined some nice pieces of furniture in the early days by over restoring.

Take the peice to a commercial restorer and have it dipped saves many many hours of work, or use paint stripper, you will still have to fold bits of glass/sand paper to finish but it will be a lot less work

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Originally Posted by hawburn

I surely there are tools out there to make this type of work a little easier?? or do the professionals keep these a secret from the " do it myself " people so they get to stay in business?? :)

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Sorry for the bad news , mate - sanding those tight places is never easy , no shortcuts - or at least , I haven't fount them :~. As I have to deal constantly with the problem ,

https://www.woodworkforums.com/member...um/index2.html

....all I can say is SCRAPERS! All the shapes and sizes you need , they are easy to make from ols sawblades , and do great job.Carver's rifflers work as well - the good ones ae expensive , but they last for ages (the finest the better) , and then comes the actual sanding...I find rotary tools , like Dremel to do more damage than actual work , as the sandpaper will bite into the softer spots , and could even ruin the carving , so I glue small pads of sandpaper to cheap Chinese riflers , plastic spatulas , modeling tools... anything at hand and the rest is elbow grease:~

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Originally Posted by Artesano

...I find rotary tools , like Dremel to do more damage than actual work , as the sandpaper will bite into the softer spots , and could even ruin the carving

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These Attachment 150551 or even these Attachment 150552 might work with those tricky bits on the dremel/rotary tool. If you use the wire brush bits keep the revolutions down and wear eye protection as the individual wires tend to depart from the bit after time.

All these things have the same problem , as the wood has softer and harder grain , they remove more wood in the softer spots , and leave the harder ones bold :~ - especialy in timber like ash or pine , where the result is close to a sandblasted surface.

Have you tried to use a toothbrush and some metho first up, some of the finish may dissolve and save you damaging the surface too much.

Donna

I think whichever way you go, its hard graft unfortunately. I can't add anything to what has already been said.