Let’s Strip with Easy Off!

Did you know that oven cleaner can be used as a furniture stripper?! I’ve been refinishing furniture for ages and I only just heard about it recently. If you’ve refinished furniture, you know that stripping off the old finish can be super messy, not to mention time-consuming! When refinishing a piece of furniture, depending on the finish and type of wood, there are several options you can choose from to get the finish to come off. My go-to method is to simply sand the piece. However, that isn’t always the best option. If there are lots of curves, like turned legs, or decoration in the wood, sanding doesn’t work well. When I have a more ornate piece or one with turned legs, I choose stripper; usually Citristrip. Citristrip works well if you allow it the time it needs to process – it’s just so messy! So! I was intrigued when I saw that oven cleaner could be used instead. Now, I just needed to find a piece of furniture in the house that needed to be refinished!

Chosen piece of furniture

To try out the oven cleaner method, I chose this little wooden table. I call it a magazine rack since I use the side areas to store magazines. I’m not really sure what it’s called though. If you know, let me know in the Comment section below. I bought this little table at a garage sale. I think I paid $5. The picture on the left is what it looked like when I brought it home. The top is veneer and was badly damaged. We used the table ‘as-is’ for a long time. When I was in a chalk-painting mode a few years ago, I made the decision to paint it. I thought that adding paint to the cracked veneer would help disguise them…but it didn’t.

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YouTube Video

Oven Cleaner Process

• To use the oven cleaner as a stripper:
  • Apply a thick coat
  • Allow it to process for 20 minutes
  • Scrub with a small scrub brush that has been dipped in water that contains a couple of drops of Dawn dishsoap
  • Rinse with water
  • Allow to dry
• Repeat as necessary until the finish has been removed

Let’s Strip

Stripping time

Step 1 – Spray & scrub

I sprayed a heavy coat of oven cleaner on the top and let it sit for 20 minutes. I then tried a putty knife to see if the paint would come off but it didn’t work well. So, I grabbed the little scrub brush, dipped it in water & started scrubbing. Voila! I was working!

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After scrubbing the top well, I wiped it off with a wet rag. All of the paint came off easily! I saw that I would need to apply another coat or two of the oven cleaner to remove the stain. As the top was drying, I moved onto the legs & sides. As you can see, the oven cleaner removed the chalk paint & wax with one coat.

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Repairs needed

Before stripping the 2nd side, I needed to do a little gluing. I was multi-tasking by doing a little yard work while allowing the oven cleaner to process. While I was away from the table, hubby tried to move the worktable so he could mow. When he did so, the magazine table fell to the ground. Since the side pieces are thin, the side that hit the ground cracked. After assessing the damage, I was certain that a little Elmer’s wood glue would fix it. I took the table inside – it was getting late in the day anyway – squeezed a little glue into the crack, covered it with plastic wrap, and clamped a piece of wood on either side to hold it in place. The next day, I removed the clamp, blocks, and plastic wrap to see that the glue had worked and the crack was repaired. I took the table back outside and continued stripping off the paint.

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Step 2 – Veneer removal

While the table was inside, I thought I’d see if I could remove the veneer with just a putty knife. There were a could of spots where the veneer was pretty loose, so I gathered my tools – a hammer, putty knife, and 9 in 1 painters tool. Starting with the 9 in 1, I eased the corner of the tool into one of the cracks and using the hammer, gently tapped the handle while sliding the tool under the veneer. Using this method, I was able to remove most of the veneer from the top and some of it from the sides of the shelf.

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To remove the remaining veneer, I soaked towels in hot water, wrung out the excess water then placed the towels over the veneer and let them sit overnight. The warm water loosens the glue under the veneer. I was amazed at how easy it was to remove the veneer after it was wet. I was able to remove almost all of the rest from the top without the use of any tools.

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Using Citristrip

Step 3 – Another round of Easy-Off

After all the paint had been removed, I applied 2 more rounds of Easy-Off to the table. I also used it on a couple of pieces of trim as I had decided to add some to the space right under the top of the table. When I got the table, I didn’t realize that there should be trim there. It wasn’t until I was working on it this time that I noticed it was missing. It was nice that I had leftover trim from other projects to use for this. As you can see, the 2 pieces of trim are slightly different. I figured they would go with the uniqueness of the table.

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Step 4 – Sanding

After 3 rounds of Easy-Off, the paint & stain were gone! Now it was time to sand. Using the Easy-Off method roughs up the wood more than when using Citristrip. The reason for this is that you are applying water and scrubbing the finish with a brush. I used my orbital sander and 120 grit sandpaper to sand the top, shelf, inside walls, legs & sides. For the side slots, I used a sanding block. After using the 120 grit, I sanded everything again with 220 grit in preparation for sealing.

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Step 5 – More repairs

When I removed the veneer, I saw that there was a spot on the top of the table that was damaged. To fix this, I mixed a little sawdust with wood glue & applied it with a putty knife. After the glue dried, I removed the excess sawdust with the putty knife then sanded the area smooth with a sanding block.

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Step 6 – Adding trim

Using my miter saw, I cut the trim to fit the width between the legs. To attach the trim, I used my nail/brad gun to secure blocks to the table top. I had to use an additional piece of wood to fill the space between the block & trim. The trim was also attached with the nail/brad gun. Once the trim was in place, I decided to add a little accent trim to either side to give it a ‘clean’ finish. I also had this trim on hand. To attach these small pieces, I used wood glue and held them in place with painters tape while the glue dried.

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Step 7 – Sealing the wood

Now for the fun part – the last step! Before sealing the wood, I wiped down the entire piece with a tack cloth.

To seal the wood, I applied 3 coats of Varathayne water-based polyurethane in satin using a 1 1/2″ angled paintbrush. I allowed 2 hours between coats for drying time. After the first coat, the wood was a bit rough so I sanded it with a 180 grit sanding block. After the 2nd coat, I used a 220 sanding block. Normally, I would only use 2 coats of polyurethane on a piece of furniture, but since I was sealing bare wood, 3 coats seemed necessary. After applying the poly on the top, I could see where the water had seeped through the damaged veneer. On the outer edge of the shelf, you can also see where a little of the the veneer was removed when I sanded it. The same thing happened on the upper edge of this repaired side – I didn’t even know there was a type of veneer on those too.

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Finished project

When I started this refinishing project, I wasn’t certain that Easy-Off would remove the paint and stain but it did! I find it interesting that so many pieces of furniture are made from different woods and I’m surprised to find that several of the pieces I have recently refinished have veneer on parts of them – like my table, buffet, and antique kitchen table.

In the past when I have refinished furniture, I have always stained it afterward. But I have been liking the raw look lately. After all the time it takes to remove old finishes, it’s nice to see what the wood really looks like. So, instead of adding to it, I am leaving it to shine on it’s own.

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Additional views of the refinished table.

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Before, During, After

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Supplies Used

• Orbital sander
• 120, 180, 220 grit sandpaper
• CitriStrip
• Easy Off oven cleaner
• Water
• Scrub brush
• Putty knife & 9 in 1 painters tool
• Hammer
• Miter saw
• Nail/brad gun & air compressor
• Varathane water-based polyurethane
• 1 1/2″ paintbrush
• Wood glue
• Plastic wrap
• Clamps
• Wood trim
• Mask
• Goggles
• Gloves
• Tack cloth

Instructions

• Remove finish with Easy Off oven cleaner
• Spray Easy Off (or other oven cleaner) on a section of the furniture
• Allow to sit for 20 minutes
• Use a scrub brush dipped in water to scrub off finish
• Rinse with water
• Dry with towel
• Repeat until finish has been removed
• To remove veneer
• Wet a heavy towel with hot water
  • Wring out excess moisture
• Lay towel on veneer
  • Allow to sit on veneer for at least 2 hours – overnight is best
• Using a putty knife & hammer, gently remove veneer
• Once wood is dry, using an orbital sander, sand with 120 grit sandpaper
  • Use a sanding block for areas where your sander will not fit
• Sand with 180-220 grit sandpaper
• Remove sawdust with soft cloth then tack cloth
• Apply two to three coats of water-based polyurethane
• Lightly sand using a sanding block between coats

For your convenience

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