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Vent: My uncle swore by using a heat gun to strip old varnish
My uncle, who did this for 30 years, always told me a heat gun was the only way to strip old varnish without hurting the wood. He said chemical strippers were for people who didn't know better. So I tried it on a 1920s oak dresser I was fixing up. I spent a whole afternoon on it, and it worked, but it was so slow and I kept scorching the wood in spots. I had to sand those marks out forever. Last month, I got a good modern stripper, the kind that gels, and it took the varnish off a similar piece in about 20 minutes with no burns. I feel like I wasted so much time. Has anyone else moved away from the heat gun method for certain jobs?
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troystone27d ago
Ever scorch a piece trying to follow old advice too?
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black.laura27d agoMost Upvoted
Oh yeah, following old advice... my friend totally ruined a nice cutting board last month trying to season it with some weird oil his grandpa swore by. It never dried right and got all sticky and gross.
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