I am trying to remove the varnish coating from chess pieces?

D

Davis

New member
I have just made a chess board and I finished it with a beautiful orange oil and beeswax finish. I don't have a lathe so I just buy the chess pieces from a website called Chess House and they come pre-finished and they have a clear varnish on it. I really want to find a way to safely remove the varnish from the Rosewood and Maple so that I may come back and finish it with the same orange oil and beeswax finish.
The question is: How can I safely remove the varnish from the 3.5" chess pieces without ruining the wood or making it impossible to refinish?
 
Wow - those are big pieces. The best way to do it is with stripper. You can get a quart of it - and some rubber gloves and follow the directions. Get some medium steel wool - and you can take off the stripper with that - and it polishes them up at the same time.

Then when it's all done, just give them a good buff with the steel wool - you might want to get some fine steel wool for that part.
 
You can purchase good quality solutions that remove varnish (not paint) and they work very well. Minwax is a brand that is quite good because they also sell stains and such....they know wood. :)
 
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