# Thomasville Refinish



## oakenshield (Mar 22, 2014)

I just bought a really nice, heavy Thomasville dining set on craigslist. I'm going to strip and refinish. I think this will be an easy task because the wood appears to not be stained, it's a transparent glaze that has flaked off in some spots, so I think it would come up easily with stripper.

I'm wondering how Thomasville achieves their finishes. I have other furniture from Thomasville (bought new), and I really like how the finish looks rustic and glazed (hills of tuscany, light rustico), but now I wonder if it's all sitting on top of the wood like what I just bought, and not stained as I previously thought.

I would like to stain the new table, but would also like the darkened edges, and flecks of dark color throughout. I was thinking of just doing the base stain, then using a darker stain to kind of glaze the edges, but am wondering about the flecks of color throughout. Is it a spraying technique? Is there a way to achieve this at home?

Thanks for any suggestions.


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## punkin611 (Sep 17, 2013)

You want to learn to refinish in one easy step? Well lets get started, You say you want to strip a clear finish? Start with a 50/50 mix of alcohol and lacquer. If that works your job is easier. If that don't work you will have to use stripper. There are many ways to get the color you want stains oil/alcohol Etc. Post back when you get the finish off and see what color and wood type you end up with and decide on a color Etc. you want. What you ask for is not a simple thing.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Thomasville makes a lot of furniture. It would help if you would post a picture of the finish you are trying to reproduce. Sometimes the edges on furniture is enhanced by applying a glaze during the finish process and wiping the excess off. You can buy an aerosol can which sprays the specks. I do it the old fashion way with a toothbrush. You dip the toothbrush in some thin glaze and rub your thumb over it flicking the specks. The specks is called Fly Speck.


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

I think that if you contacted Thomasville they might offer some suggestions.

A nice letter, "I have . . . . I bought . . . . It has this problem . . . Could you offer some suggestions on how I can make it look like . . . "

The reason that I say letter is that while e-mail is easy to ignore a nice letter is much more difficult to ignore. And the letter is only going to cost you about a half a buck for the materials and stamp.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Some manufacturers of production furniture produce a wood look and finish that you would swear is real. Before you get to the nitty gritty on the piece, first determine from an inconspicuous place what is actually under what looks like a wood finish.


















.


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Your comment about some areas showing "chipping" makes me wonder whether it might be shellac. Take some denatured alcohol and test a small area. if the finish softens with the alcohol, then its shellac. If it is, use denatured alcohol not strippers.


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## oakenshield (Mar 22, 2014)

Thanks for the tip about shellac. I'll test it. I've stripped things before, and was planning to strip this piece and refinish. It's good news to me that it is not stain, because all I have to remove is the top coat and not worry about deep sanding. I was just so surprised to see that it wasn't stained. I realized it when I was getting one of the table leaves, which had delaminated / flaked off the flat surface. This table is oak. I'd like to match the sort of light chocolate color of my other Thomasville table, which is pecan. I plan to just get sherwin williams to color match the base color, which they've done for me before, then I'll try glazing the edges with a dark walnut or ebony. I've heard of the toothbrush technique but don't know that I can achieve their look with that.

We are in the process of refinishing our kitchen cabinets, so plan to use the same laquer for a topcoat with my husband's fancy new sprayer.


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## punkin611 (Sep 17, 2013)

Steve Neul said:


> Thomasville makes a lot of furniture. It would help if you would post a picture of the finish you are trying to reproduce. Sometimes the edges on furniture is enhanced by applying a glaze during the finish process and wiping the excess off. You can buy an aerosol can which sprays the specks. I do it the old fashion way with a toothbrush. You dip the toothbrush in some thin glaze and rub your thumb over it flicking the specks. The specks is called Fly Speck.


Good tip It's trying to imitate worm holes like in antiques


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## oakenshield (Mar 22, 2014)

Tried denatured alcohol. The finish got cloudy but didn't seem to soften much. Tried lacquer thinner, the finish seemed to gel up a bit and could scrape off better. Tried spray on 15 min stripper and it pretty easily scraped off the wood. Nothing is making it flake up / delaminate like I saw on the table leaf. The wood is not stained. It is definitely a coating on top of the wood.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

It sounds like the finish is lacquer and lacquer can also flake off like shellac. Any chemical remover will disolve lacquer. The best over the counter remover I've used for lacquer is Strypeeze. This one you brush on keeping it wet for 15-20 minutes and scrape the finish off. Then as quick as possible rinse with lacquer thinner. Removers contain wax and the residue needs to be thoroughly washed off.


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## punkin611 (Sep 17, 2013)

The earlier post about removers containing wax is right on. Be sure, after you get the color you want, SEAL the wood with shellac /sanding sealer before you top coat it. Even if you put a oil based stain on it first, the top coat will be ruined.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

punkin611 said:


> The earlier post about removers containing wax is right on. Be sure, after you get the color you want, SEAL the wood with shellac /sanding sealer before you top coat it. Even if you put a oil based stain on it first, the top coat will be ruined.


I wish I knew the specific kind of wax used in removers but it is formulated to stay on the surface of the wood and not penetrate into it. It skims over the top of the remover to keep air away from the chemical. If a person used due diligence in rinsing with water or a solvent like lacquer thinner the wood should be wax free when sanding and preparing for finishing. Sealcoat shouldn't be necessary just because a chemical remover was used.


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## punkin611 (Sep 17, 2013)

I misspoke, the remover If washed off good might work, BUT, why take a chance? What if wax got under the broken finish BEFORE you removed it? Big problem. Even if you stain it the wax/ silicon will interfere will oil top coat. The only way I know to seal it in is shellac/ sanding sealer. What other way to insulate wax in the wood from top coat? I want to learn.:icon_smile:


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## Muddyrak (Feb 15, 2021)

Alcohol and lacquer strip a finish? 







punkin611 said:


> You want to learn to refinish in one easy step? Well lets get started, You say you want to strip a clear finish? Start with a 50/50 mix of alcohol and lacquer. If that works your job is easier. If that don't work you will have to use stripper. There are many ways to get the color you want stains oil/alcohol Etc. Post back when you get the finish off and see what color and wood type you end up with and decide on a color Etc. you want. What you ask for is not a simple thing.


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