Seeping Candle wax from pine furniture

Hi all

I bought a pine bedside table that had a simple varnish finish. The previous owner must have had a candle spillover onto the top of the unit and part of the varnish has been peeled away by the wax leaving bare timber.

I planned to sand all the varnish back & the paint the entire piece before painting. While sanding I found the sandpaper gripping in the areas where the candle wax had been. I managed to sand it back smooth but after applying primer, 2 coats of cream paint & a varnish (all water based) I noticed a dark stain leeching through the paint precisely where the candle wax had been.

This stain also was tacky to touch. I guess I'll have to sand it back again & give it another go.

What can I do? Can I some how seal this excretion prior to painting again & if so with what?

Here is the problem

Quote:

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all water based

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Oil Based finishes are needd in situations such as the one that you describe.
Prior to the finish being applied , the whole surface should be washed down with an appropriate solvent .

give it a coat of shellac-based primer like Zinser BIN primer or Prep-lock (Dulux I think). That'll seal it.

Cheers
Michael

I second the Shellac-based or shellac coat, what Mic-D said :)

Thanks for all this advice. I guess I'll need to strip it all back to bare timber again or would a good sanding of the current coats suffice before applying the sealer & repainting?

If bare timber is needed is there a type of stripper I'll need & if so any suggestions?

Just give it a light sand and apply the sealer. No need to take it back to bare timber.

Cheers
Michael