Q:I bought this chair at a thrift store and I love it. But I need some guidance as to how I should approach stripping the foam from the unfinished part of the wood where there was a seat cushion. I'm assuming I need to strip the entire chair and re-stain it? Any advice would be much appreciated from you and fellow readers. It's a great chair in wonderful structural condition and I want to do it right.
Sent by Dave
Editor - We haven't worked with a chair with foam adhered like this, but we're sure our DIY minded readers will have plenty of tips to help Dave with his project. Please add your tips and feedback below.
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Comments (6)
A Multi tool Paint scraper should work. These tools have sharp convex and concave edges that are perfect for applications like this. And yes, you need to strip, patch all the nail holes and re-stain the whole thing to get the wood all even. Good Luck!
Thanks much Comicgeek...any thoughts on the stripper? This is my first time, want to avoid too many missteps. Dave
I don't know if it would work for you, but I recently got a dresser that had a layer of fabric "fuzz" stuck to the top. After a good scrub with soap and water to get the big stuff off, I used rubbing alcohol and a rag and it dissolved enough of the varnish to clean off all the fuzz and left me with a beautiful clean smooth surface. I didn't even have to refinish it, just gave it a good coat of old english. Good luck!
I refinished a table with Citristrip and was very happy with it, though I've heard of soy gel strippers as well. Good luck!
The paint stripper will melt the foam off.
I found that out when I tried to apply paint stripper with a foam brush. : P A learning experience.
I used an citrus stripper and it smelled pleasant at least.
thanks everyone. much appreciated for the feedback