How to remove black paint from wooden furniture?

Posted by admin on July 18th, 2011

In my dining room we have cupboards, seating bench, table and chairs and display cabinets all hand built and fitted. its great quality and I really like it except thats it black. I know its going to be a long hard job but it makes the room look small being so dark and I know it would look amazing if I could just get it to a natural wood finish but I dont know the best way to do it. should I just sand it back? I'm worried the black will have sunk into the wood and I would have to sand too much which would ruin it as there is bevelling on some of the doors and edges. any ideas how to get black painted wood back to its orginal glory?

Use a good quality paint stripper, after you have removed as much of the paint as possible get a sanding block and sand it down to the natural wood. use a course sand paper at first, then move down to a finer one until you have it as smooth as you want it to be.

This is a lot of work and you need to have it in a well ventilated area because of the fumes from the stripper.

Try some real fine Steel Wool', available at most builders supply stores . It should come off if the black paint is not on too thick on the wood. use some TSP to clean the wood after the paint is removed.

I have done a lot of wood work, I find that using a thick stripper works the best.

As a life time wooodwork . Since u really don't know whats underneath,and can't see ur furniture what it looks like,

If there is no nicks, bumps, big scratches. Go over with fine sand paper;like 150-200 grits, then paint over what ever color u want. since its black now, best to give a coat of primer and patch any damage like holes,scratches.
If natural wood underneath, then strip it with paint remover to get all the paint off.

Either way is a long process. the only thing u save is ur labor than to have a professional do it, they do it better job, they know the trade and the equipments

I'd scrape the paint off first with a thin metal paint scraper then hand sand delicate areas it carefully.

Getting one of those foam blocks to wrap your sand paper around is a good idea too, they let you be more flexible in how you sand beveling.

Check that it is solid wood not laminated, before you start. Start in an area that is not visible first (like underneath of the table) so you can practice/experiment without much worry.