Expert: Eileen Cronk - 11/12/2009

Question
Hi Eileen!  I recently bought an entire discontinued Ethan Allen dining set on the cheap (85 dollars!), but whoever owned it previously did not take care of it.  Its structurally sound, but needs to be re-finished.  Its cherrywood and from what I've been reading the top is lacquered?  Im wondering what would be the easiest product to use to get it down to the wood so I can sand out some of the dings, and Id also like to lighten the color before refinishing with whatever is easiest to bring the shine back!  Im hoping for some ideas from you, I have no experience and I don't want to mess it up!  Im also hoping that I don't need to use heavy-duty wood stripper, that stuff scares me:)  Any help you could give would be appreciated!

Thanks-
Sarah

Answer
Hi Sarah
Nice to hear from you.
Really great buy. Good eye.
Unfortunately to remove this type of lacquer finish we need the heavy artillery LOL.
That means chemical stripper.
But if this set is really cherry wood, it would be worth the effort.
It could also be made of wood other than cherry and stained to look like cherry. So try to get a positive ID from someone in the know. Thats important.
If it turns out its not real cherry, what do you think about painting the set?
This could be done without any harsh materials. It could be done right in the home if that was necessary. It could be done for far less money and aggravation than stripping.
Sarah will you get back to me on this?
Kind Regards
Eileen