See the attached photos. I recently acquired this lovely old hutch from my late grandmother's house. I can't find any marks to indentify the company or date of manufacture, but my grandparents had this since I was a kid, and I'm 45 now. At some point in the past, one of my grandparents applied self-adhesive shelf liner to the top surfaces, probably to cover scratches. I'm assuming this stuff is made of vinyl, but it's quite old and brittle now. I've had a heck of a time getting this stuff off. You can see in the first photo where I started peeling back one corner. The areas where I've managed to peel some away, there's a very sticky residue left on the wood.

My question is: How do I get rid of this sticky surface? I want to refinish the piece, so I don't want to use anything that will cause problems later. I had thought of WD-40, since its so great at removing glue and other adhesives, but WD-40 has an oily feel to it. Afraid it would soak into the wood then cause trouble later when I go to apply the stain or varnish. I figured with so many of you here having experience in restoring and being do-it-yourselfers, you might have some ideas.

Thanks.

As for the Goo Gone, I wasn't impressed. Basically overpriced orange oil. I slathered it on with a brush and left it for several minutes. It barely made a dent. Had to scrub with a Scotchbrite pad to make any real progress. This stuff may work for other things, but for the adhesive left by the contact paper, nada. I won't waste my money on it again.