Furniture Cleaning

[Alan de Enfield]

I've heard some very good reports (and seen before & after pictures) about a US product called Citristrip.

It gently removes old varnish and lifts years of crud & muck out of Enfield furniture (and I guess other makes as well !!!)

Done lots of searching but cannot find it in the UK, does anyone know if it is sold in the UK (maybe under a different name) or a UK equivalent.

First pic "before", second pic "after"

Information

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[finloq]

Hey, I resemble that rifle! Actually, another member recommended it to me, when I aquired a Long Branch that somebody polyurethaned. Spray, wait and scrape off the offending material with a plastic scraper; no harm to the finish of the wood at all.

Product # ECG73807
W.M. Barr & Co. Inc.
Memphis, TN 38113
1(800) 398-3892
http://www.citristrip.com/

[Gingercat]

Hi Alan

Not sure if the following is something similar (UK based):-

Adhesive and paint stripper gel

May be worth trying a small bottle anyway - I can't say I've used it myself, but have used supermarket 'citrus cleaner' with reasonable success for taking oil and grease out of a Nepalese Martini Henry stock.

Kind regards
Mike

[gunner]

Mild citric acid like you can get for cleaning the coffee machine does work too. But test it at an unseen part before using it, its sometimes better.

Regards

Gunner

[Antiquity]

I've heard some very good reports (and seen before & after pictures) about a US product called Citristrip.

It gently removes old varnish and lifts years of crud & muck out of Enfield furniture (and I guess other makes as well !!!)

Done lots of searching but cannot find it in the UK, does anyone know if it is sold in the UK (maybe under a different name) or a UK equivalent.

First pic "before", second pic "after"

I would be very surprised if you would not be able to order something like that online. I've used it before but I am located in the states. It is a good product. check out homedepot.com or loews.com. I would be surprised if they couldn't ship to the UK.

Moderator Edit: Removed spamming link to "patio furniture" sale site ...

[newbieDAN]

Used Citristrip with excellent results. Plastic scraper? maybe...but I used some 0000 grade steel wool not to rub the wood as such, but to craze the surface of the varnish to allow the stripper to work. Then after the work was done, to use the steel wool as an aid in rinsing to remove all the residual whilst running under the warm water in the laundry basin. Leave it to dry. Maybe a couple of applications. Works fantastically.

[xa-coupe]

After reading this I tracked down some citristrip in a local hardware shop and got to work on a sporterised fore end I have that my dad varnished back in the 70s.
It stripped off everything pretty well but I don;t know the scraper works for me. It was hard work getting all the paint off. I got some 0000 steel wool and it works a treat. Currently the fore end is drying after one coat of BLO but it looks 100% better than the varnish. A great tip from the forum, thanks Alan for bringing it up.