Cedar Restoration

I Am Restoring My First Cedar Piece - 1870's Austalian Tallboy.

It Is Finished In Black Jap At Present - It Is Quite Thick - Many Layers.

What Is The Best Method Of Removal Please - Have Tried Steel Wool And Gallons Of Metho So Far - Is There A Better Way Please

Hi,
If Metho isnt doing the trick it might be tar.

I read somewhere that there was a preperation made with tar and shellac.

I have never had much luck removing the black finish,

maybe someone else can enlighten both of us.

you may need to scrape the finish off

One of those little sandvik triangular scrapers will do the job. Once you break thru the "crusty" bit it should come off quite easy. Take your time and you will find there won't be much sanding required.

I recently cleaned layers of dark shellac of an old gramaphone using this method.

Cheers,
conwood

Taking a finish off Cedar can be a helluva lot of work ... the timber is open-pored and if the finish is in there the wood has to come off as well as the finish, if you get what I mean.

So give us a description of what the timber looks like now. Red timber with black spots?

And does the piece have curves in 2D or 3D?

try thinners.
iff not then paint stripper.

If you dont already have neils book. get a coppy

hit the ubeaut link at the bottom of the page and look for the polishers handbook.


there is s procedure for clearing open grained timbers when stripping that will almost certainly be usefull.

cheers