Removing black paint to refinish.
This pieces were originally varnished clear, later some kind of grey primer or paint and a 3rd and last coat of acrylic glossy black paint. This last coat was in very bad shape and everything will stick to it, so the owner called me to build her a new set. The truth is that when I saw this solid oak "old american" style I couldn't just be 'ok' with replacing it. We had to rescue it.
Using dental tools and good patience we have removed the residue from all the carvings and odd shapes, the chairs have been power washed with water after sitting for few hours in biodegradable stripping chemicals.
Then later using the powerful water based polyurethane black "break trough" I sprayed 3 thick coats, and a last thin and soft final coat to give it a smooth and even finish, durable and dark as it could be.
They wanted to see the grain anyways, so for that matter I took advantage of the density difference and porosity of oak. Using a power washer to clean the residue from the stripper, I accentuated the porosity of the softer grain, keeping it like that while sanding to allow the finish to show it because of its nature... difficult to explain but visually perfect.
The end of the story is that the clients were very happy with their dining set, he told me that this set it's been with him for about 20 years, and it will be more. Finally they offered me a delicious dinner, so I had the honor of sitting in this table and have the first meal after the restoration.
