I recently bought several hundred used wood shelves from a candle store that was going out-of-business. These are high-end solid wood shelves, made by Lundia.

The shelves are mostly 2'x4' panels, made of edge-glued Scandinavian knotty pine planks. They have a hard glossy finish. The manufacturer currently uses a UV coating process, but this might be an older type of finish.

Anyway, these shelves are also great pieces of wood panelling, which I would like to recycle as cabinet doors & other furniture. As they were stacked next to the truck, quite a few people stopped to comment on their beautiful appearance.

The only problem is the smell.. about 10 years of candle scent. How to get rid of it?

For starters, I tried simple.. crossed my fingers & wiped them down with wet towels to remove loose dust & wax, then Fabreeze, followed by ammoniated household cleaner. No luck, they smell just the same. As the clear finish is pretty hard, and liquids pool on the surface, I have some hope that perhaps the wood itself is not completely permeated with the smell. However, the ends of the shelves are not sealed.

If necessary, I might resort to using a planer or sander to completely remove the finish, and cut a few inches off the ends. It would sure save a lot of finishing work, though, if I could just lightly sand the surface to remove scratches, and then spray on a top coat of poly.

As a last resort, at least they will still make very pretty shelves and tables for my shop!

Ideas and suggestions for removing the smell, and refinishing the panels, will be most appreciated.

(I'm having trouble submitting this, sorry if it double-posts.)