How to refinish rough surfaces

[S_W_F]

Hi! I think this is my very first post and I was hoping some wise people could advise me. I have been asked about this table which has a very uneven carved surface. It needs complete refinishing but it seems like an awful lot of work to hand strip and hand sand all of these uneven facets to bare wood. Is there some kind of method or tool that would make this easier without damaged the carving?

[BobL]

The quickest way is probably to sand it flat and cut new carvings into the surface.

[Beardy]

Soda blast will not damage the surface and will remove the coating or you could get it dip stripped

Much better than any by hand approach

[Tonyz]

my thoughts

depending on its age, would be interesting to know its history, Id suggest it was created like that, so leave it, client dont like your (my) suggestion wrap it around their noggin.
Are they expecting a unique piece of furniture to be completely transformed into a flat plain piece of boring.....

[China]

Clean it with a soft brass brush (Done it many times) Then just wax the surface.

[S_W_F]

Clean it with a soft brass brush (Done it many times) Then just wax the surface.

Thanks guys! Great suggestions. I'm very sure they want to keep the carvings. Interesting bit of furniture.. I haven't got it yet, just scratching my head over how many hours, the legs and underside are the same. Stripper and then latter a soft brush sound good and soda blasting.

Thanks a million.

[Arron]

Fwiw, that effect had a brief popularity a few years back and was called ‘adzed’. I don’t know if they used a real adze to do it. If it comes to it, you can do a passable imitation of adze work with an arbortech in a angle grinder - using the tip and the grinder elevated.

[havabeer69]

240v drill or grinder with a nylon or brass wheel

[S_W_F]

240v drill or grinder with a nylon or brass wheel

Hmmm that sounds good too, thanks.