Good As New...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
April 29, 2008 10:02am CST
Several years ago a product came on the market for stripping furniture. I don’t remember the name off hand but basically you take a piece of furniture, pour some of this stuff on, wait a couple minutes and then use a paper towel to wipe “years and years of layers away”. I watched the infomercial for it numerous times. Most of the time they showed old battered furniture from a yard sale with about 10 layers of paint and/or varnish on it. They’d take and put their stuff on, wipe it all off and presto…chango…a new piece of furniture waiting for a little clear varnish to make it look good as new.
Then they’d move on to kitchen cabinets and woodwork and Wow…some of those kitchens turned out wonderful. Then they’d move on to old furniture. They’d pick one of those old, dark cabinets that some ppl have tucked in the corner of their home and show how you can strip all that old dark stuff off and make it look good as new.
But that’s where the problem comes in. Some ppl didn’t know that the old dark stuff actually added to the value of the piece. By stripping it, you dropped the value dramatically.
While watching an Antique Roadshow episode a husband and wife brought in a gorgeous hutch type cabinet. It had been passed through generations and was from the 1800’s. The appraiser looked it over and was amazed at it. He told them that b/c of the rarity of the item and who had made it that it would have been worth around $200,000!! But the bad news was, since it had been refinished (stripped and re-sealed) that it dropped the value to $20,000!! The woman just started bawling. The appraiser told them that the original dark stained stuff added to the age and worth. I was amazed.
I haven’t seen the stripper stuff on much in the last few years so maybe they pulled it off the market. I might have used it on yard sale finds or kitchen cabinets but I never would have used it on an antique piece of furniture.
Have you ever stripped furniture? Have you ever ruined a piece? What would you have done if you were in the woman’s place? Do you think the stripper should have come with a warning or a caution?
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
3 people like this
13 responses
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
30 Apr 08
wow that is interesting to know, I never knew you would ruin a piece by stripping it. But I do believe that you still can buy stripper in a hardware store.
1 person likes this
@DonnaLawson (4032)
• United States
30 Apr 08
I am sure that you can still get this at any home improvement store.. I have used it with great success, but I have never owned a piece of antique furniture.. My mother had a drop leaf table that she had given me to start my houskeeping with and it had about 15 layers of old paint on it.. It was not an antique, just an older less expensive table.. I did use the stripper and it worked just perfect.. I then stained the table and it looked like a new dinette after adding a couple of chairs to go with it.. I can't imagine having a piece of furniture worth that much.. But much can be said of the Patina that comes with age.. On material things it is patina, on us old people it is called wrinkles.. Have a great day..
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
3 May 08
There are many uses for paint strippers, and they are around still. I have seen some really good ones. That woman should have researched before she refinished. A very old item should not be refinished or refurbished, if you are holding it for an investment. If you just want it to look nice and match the rest of your house, you may want to refinish it. In short, it is not the fault of the stripper, but of the person who applied it, without checking what she had first. Some people just cannot stand the look of older furniture.
@whittby (3072)
• United States
29 Apr 08
I salvaged a piece of ruined furniture, but didn't restore its value - too bad. My Mom got a very nice antique secretary desk years ago. As was the latest fad, she put a coat of this two step "antiquing" on it turning it into a white with dark stain highlights. I inherited the desk years later and we stripped it down to the beautiful oak again and then stained it. I loved it, but when appraised, it wasn't worth much at all.
@cortjo73 (6498)
• United States
29 Apr 08
First, because I lack that kind of ambition, I have never done something like that! LOL! And, second...I might have begun a long life of kicking myself in my own butt if that had happened to me. Yikes!
I don't know if it is the responsibility of the manufacturer of the stripper to put a caution on their product that it may devalue your furniture if you use it on antiques. Especially when, just because something is old, doesn't necessarily make it a valuable antique. LOL! Some things are just old junk and it is hard to know what is what unless you take it to get it appraised. And, some people don't really want to take the time, or spend the money to get something appraised that may only be worth that cost of the lamp that sits on it or the canned corn that is served in it. LOL! So, I don't really think that the furniture stripper manufacturer should put a caution on their product.
But, thank you for sharing this story. I bet that woman has never stopped kicking herself for that. Yikes!
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
3 May 08
Ihave never stripped a real antique but have striped some old pieces of end tables and did a pretty fair job too.
I do think these stripping compounds should warn people
about not stripping antiques. also they should have
a warning in bold print to use only outside where you
have plenty of ventilation as the fumes from that
stuff are really quite toxic. I quit using the stuff as
it gave me a bad headache.
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
29 Apr 08
That would be a nice thing to do! Include a warning saying to think twice about stripping the finish off antique furniture.. and would have gained life time customers perhaps! And perhaps lots of recommendations.
- I've seen some of the Antiques Roadshow so fortunately know all about the finish snafus which can happen! How terrible for those who didn't know!
@jeweledbluerose (3061)
• United States
29 Apr 08
I know what you are talking about, but I don't remember what the name of that stuff is called either. 
I didn't know that a piece of antique furniture could be lowered in value if it has been refinished. But well I've never owned a piece of antique furniture in my life, so I don't keep track of this stuff.
Though unlike the woman in your discussion I would have been happy with just the $20,000, because I dislike dark colored furniture. Not only that, if it was an inherited piece I would never think of selling it, or ever care how much it was worth. To me such things are priceless and to be treasured.
I've stripped a couple pieces of furniture for a family member, and didn't hear no complaints about ruining the piece, so I guess I did a good job with it. lol
As for any paint stripper, I don't think it should come with a warning, since it's not really the paint stripper company's job to make sure you don't devalue your own furniture. That's something that should be looked into before the piece is refinished. Just my opinion though. 
I didn't know that a piece of antique furniture could be lowered in value if it has been refinished. But well I've never owned a piece of antique furniture in my life, so I don't keep track of this stuff.
Though unlike the woman in your discussion I would have been happy with just the $20,000, because I dislike dark colored furniture. Not only that, if it was an inherited piece I would never think of selling it, or ever care how much it was worth. To me such things are priceless and to be treasured.
I've stripped a couple pieces of furniture for a family member, and didn't hear no complaints about ruining the piece, so I guess I did a good job with it. lol
As for any paint stripper, I don't think it should come with a warning, since it's not really the paint stripper company's job to make sure you don't devalue your own furniture. That's something that should be looked into before the piece is refinished. Just my opinion though.
@recycledgoth (9894)
•
29 Apr 08
LOL Nitromors I think it's called. that stuff is really nasty but it works a treat. I had to use it on some of the paintwork in my house, the previous owners had put loads of coats of gloss paint onto the woodwork on the stairs and it was a pig to strip.
I think I would have just collapsed if I had been in that poor woman's place, who in their right minds strips down antique furniture.
@slickcut (8140)
• United States
29 Apr 08
yes i have stripped and refinished furniture....I don't know if they were antiques but they were just old pieces...I have 2 pieces out on my porch right now that have been stripped and i am ready to stain and varnish...I like to redo older pieces mainly because the older pieces are real wood and now days everything is not real wood....But if i had a genuine old antique i would not redo it unless it just looked awful.....
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
29 Apr 08
i've used stripper on furniture before,but not with heirloom pieces,just acquired antiques that somebody painted for some god unknown reason.
that is true,though it does lessen the value.
another thing they don't tell you is if the piece has
natural glues on the joints,it can weaken that as well.i've seen a few antiques utterly ruined by lifting veneers,the owner had no clue it was veneered.
@Mirita (2668)
• United States
29 Apr 08
Yes, antique furniture needs to appear old because if not it will loose value and this is a common mistake made by many people and they end up loosing a lot of money at the time that they sell their antiques.
