Expert: Greg Scholl - 1/9/2010

Question
I just read your answer to Cindy's inquiry of 4/20/08 re stripping lacquer finished maple.  I have a followup question.

I have a customer who's asked me to strip the birdseye maple paneling removed from her den.  The house was built in the 50's and I suspect they are finished with lacquer, although I've not confirmed that. I live 150 miles away and I want to be armed with some answers before I meet with her next week.  

The panels currently appear natural, although they've evidently experienced a moderate amount of yellowing/cigarette smoke over the years. The panels are a full 3/4" thickness of solid birdseye (if you can believe).  

Here's my question.  Would I be better off planing the 1' x 8' panels rather than treating them to a chemical stripper?  That's my initial plan, but I am unsure how deeply the lacquer would penetrate the wood and I don't wish to remove more than about 1/16" of surface material.

My client wants to reuse the panels and refinish them.  I certainly don't want her to experience any blotching.  What are your thoughts?

Thank you

Answer
Hey Jim, it's a lot more likely that this would be a varnish or even shellac, not lacquer. Old varnishes, especially, are famous for yellowing and turning dark, and lacquer just wouldn't typically be used on something like this, as it dries way too fast when applying to allow for a large job like this with lots of surface area. Trying to remove it with a planer will probably work, but the blades will rapidly gum up with varnish/shellac, and then the blades will start marking the boards as they're put through, maybe even leaving a burn type discoloration and getting dull prematurely. Birdseye would likely be Northern Maple which can be pretty hard and brittle, so if the planer blades aren't really sharp, you can get tear out of the grain as well...I would look into chemically stripping the varnish off first, then perhaps a run through the planer to expose some new wood for refinishing..... or even better a drum sanding machine like a Performax. Blotching can occur with Maple, as it's just the nature of the wood, but the harder woods will exhibit less, for sure. That much 3/4" Birdsey would be worth a small fortune in todays market, so make sure you have a plan and have done some samples of the final finish for her to approve before you even get involved.Perhaps remove a board from behind a door, or a sofa or similar, and work on that through to the final, accepted finish sample. Have you talked with her about what the desired look, gloss level, color, etc., finish materials, etc. is going to be?