Acetone stripped wood finish

10 years ago

Hi~ I've searched the forums and found similar questions but nothing that quite matched.

I have an early 40's dining table that was refinished - unknown time period, unknown substance. The surface is super glossy, and it's easy to scratch deeply, plus streaks or prints very easily. In fact - I hate the finish for these very reasons, but I love the table.

We had an accidental exposure to acetone - as in a cotton ball with a small amount of acetone was left on a folded cloth. Apparently it soaked through enough to damage the finish.

End result: a 2 inch circle where the finish was completely lifted off. I mean - down to the bare, stained wood. No residue, no stickiness, no nothing left. Just stained wood.

While still damp, the edges were easy to kind of roll and peel up more finish. There was no whitening, no discoloration. It just dissolved the finish completely.

The wood underneath is slightly lighter, and warmer in tone than the undamaged parts, so I'm assuming the finish had some sort of tone to it.

Questions:

What sort of wood finish dissolves so completely in acetone? I've never seen anything lift like this.

Is there anything I can do to sort of "blend" the edges until I can get around to refinishing the table?

Since acetone did such an amazing, and effortless, job of stripping the finish, is it an acceptable way to strip the entire table when the time comes?

I appreciate any advice!

Comments (2)

User
10 years ago
The finish is probably shellac. Shellac is used to apply a French polish finish.

From the Wiki:

"French polishing is a wood finishing technique that results in a very high gloss surface, with a deep colour and chatoyancy. French polishing consists of applying many thin coats of shellac dissolved in alcohol using a rubbing pad lubricated with oil. The rubbing pad is made of absorbent cotton or wool cloth wadding inside a square piece of fabric (usually soft cotton cloth) and is commonly referred to as a fad (also called a tampon or muÃÂ±eca, Spanish for "rag doll").[1]

"French polish" is a process, not a material. The main material is shellac, although there are several other shellac-based finishes, not all of which class as French polishing.

The finish is considered by many to be a beautiful way to finish highly figured wood, but it is also recognised to be fragile. It is softer than modern varnishes and lacquers and is particularly sensitive to spills of water or alcohol, which often produce white cloudy marks. However, it is also simpler to repair than a damaged varnish finish, as patch repairs to French polish may be easily blended into an existing finish."

Shellac is made by dissolving dry lac flakes in alcohol(denatured for finishing---but a whiskey/vodka/etc. would also work).

Acetone rapidly dissolves shellac. The age of the finish really does not matter(up to over 100 years).

Look up a tutorial on shellac to find more.
bobismyuncle
10 years ago
Acetone dissolves most finishes. I use it when stripping to clean up after the stripper. Most factory furniture has lacquer on it. But I've also used it on poly.

It evaporates very quickly. And it's a bit noxious to breathe the fumes.

One type of stripper is called ATM - acetone + toluene + methanol It's essentially the same things as in lacquer thinner. Things like Formby's are ATM strippers.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://news.thefinishingstore.com/?p=1469
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