70's Estapol removal from furniture--Help!

[another_sandra]

I have inherited some beautiful antique chests of drawers hand made in England. Unfortuantely, they were coated with some dark brown horrid looking stuff in the '70's by someone who wanted all the furniture to match exactly. I have been told it is "estapol"and that it is difficult to remove. What is the best way to go about restoring the pieces to their former glory? Please tell me it can be done.

Thanks,

Sandra

[swagman-2000]

Hi Sandra , do you have a pic?.If it Estapol paint stripper will get it off , you should have the original finish under the Estapol and should come off easy .once you have striped a section use metho (not water) and a fine steel wool to clean the excess off ,rags handy too.you should do little to no sanding once you have removed the estapol and the original finish as it will be very smooth once striped back to bear timber .
Im sure others can give you some tips

Hope this is of help

Cheers

Simon

[hap97]

Stripping Paint or Estapol: Method of stripping I use...

• I find the best stripper is the methyl chloride variety (any brand)
• Paint on stripper and leave until paint softens.
• Strip off using a paint scrapper.
• Apply another coat of stripper.
• If more paint is to be stripped then use a paint scraper OR
• If majority of paint has been removed then use coarse steel wool to remove residue.
• Finally wash the surface with metho and steel wool. (This should remove all the paint on timber, but if oak and open grain then some paint remains in the grain.)

Cleaning timber surface:

• What sort of sander do you have?
• If you need to buy a sander, consider purchasing a 125mm random orbital sander. (It will do the majority of sanding tasks.)
• Sand all exterior surfaces with 80 or 120 grit.
• Fill all holes and gaps with wood stop. (If new handles are used the screw pitch could be different!)

Finish:

• Stain to desired colour
• Finish with a polyurethane (either Estapol or Feast Watson Satinproof)

[Saskatoon]

Hi, before you start try to find out more about the piece: how old, possible value if restored correctly etc. "hap97" has given the procedure to use, but if it's a genuine antique chest of drawers avoid sanding after stripping. With luck enough of the original (probably shellac) finish will remain to be removed with methylated spirits. Restore with stain, if necessary, and a wax or shellac finish. Estapol or similar finishes are excellent and practical, but may ruin any antique value.

[Bloss]

If it is '70s Estapol fair chance it is one of the two pack epoxy resin finishes (that was the Estapol brand entry to the market in the 60s) and they are usually only removable by mechanical means - methylene chloride strippers and caustic dips etc will not generally lift it. But your description sounds more like a varnish or even shellac (or french polish) - so the advice above would be fine.

[Saskatoon]

It could also be "Estapol Antique", where a base coat of solid colour paint was wiped over with a second colour 'wash' which 'antiqued' the finish. This finish may respond to paint strippers as I don't remember this being two-part epoxy. One colourway was a grass green base wiped over with a deep blue second colour (yes, really - I have an example!).

Try to obtain a possible valuation before you start.

[Miles B]

Try soda blasting if stripper doesnt work

[Harrison]

or alternatively you could buy some cheap caustice oven cleaner and leave it for a while, let it bubble ( you should see some of the Estapol comming off then spray it with a pressure cleaner (not the jet function) repeat if neccacary. Thats what my uncle told me as he dose a bit of furniture restoration.
Harrison

[Horsecroft88]

I agree with all the above advice, except for one small matter, if the chest is English, it is likely to be either oak, baltic or possibly even Mahogany, since these were the main timbers used.

Either way, don't ever finish an antique with anything else than a shellac ("French polished") finish and bees wax. All other finishes will look plastic on antiques and significantly devalue them. Leave the Feast Watson finish (ie. floor seal, which is a mixture of Tung Oil and Polyurethane) for your timber floors, where it is most suitable.

[littlebits]

It could also be "Estapol Antique", where a base coat of solid colour paint was wiped over with a second colour 'wash' which 'antiqued' the finish. This finish may respond to paint strippers as I don't remember this being two-part epoxy. One colourway was a grass green base wiped over with a deep blue second colour (yes, really - I have an example!).

Try to obtain a possible valuation before you start.

I actually have 4 carved chairs which are covered in the above estapol antique exactly as described above- yes they were done in the 70s. I don't think I have the patience to strip them back and was wondering if it is possible to seal the surface so that I can paint them white. Any advice would be appreciated.

[soundman]

Hell..80 gritt oven cleaner pressure cleaner soda blasting

Arent we getting a little aggresive

Unless it was some sort of "commercial product" it is unlikly to be finished with two pack ine the 70's.

Most likley its just common or garden pollyeurathane, it should respond well to methene chloride and a bit of a scrape and vigourus scrub.

Hell if ya carefull with the scraper you may not have to sand any coarser than 180 gritt...if ya realy lucky and a bit carefull you may not need to take a machine anywhere near it.

cheers

[nrb]