Do wood stain and varnish removers actually work?

[Tinklewinkle]

I've got my eye on a table and chairs in a local charity shop. It's currently a bit manky and I'm not over keen on dark wood furniture

I want to strip all the wood stain and varnish off and wax it but don't I know I won't ever put the effort in to sand it so want a quick fix

Thanks!

[NotPennysBoat]

I've tried it once on a rocking chair frame (admittedly more fiddly than a table I imagine). I used a tin of paint-on scrape-off type stripper. NEVER AGAIN! It was messy, smelly and a lot harder work than it sounds! And the final finish wasn't even that great (even after two goes at it).
I ended up using someone advertising on a local Facebook page to do it properly for me (cost £65).

[Lelivre]

I'm on a FB group for Ercol fanatics and they are taking back the dark stained items to blonde wood. It may be worth a look as to their techniques. I think they are using wire wool among other things. Do not think they are using stripper solutions.

[Tinklewinkle]

Thanks. I'll look out for that FB group.

The table is fairly straight forward, but the chairs have some twiddly carved bits on it. I just know that I'll never actually sand it - I'd rather strip it all back and wax it than paint it so a hell of a lot of sanding

Thanks

[PigletJohn]

Modern paint strippers are very ineffective. The old ones, full of toxic and polluting chemicals that would burn your skin and eyes have been off the maker for years.

If somebody offers you an old bottle out of their shed, be very cautious before deciding what to do.

I believe there are still companies who do a chemical dip, but you run the risk that all the glue and filler will dissolve and they hand you back a sack of firewood.

[Tinklewinkle]

Thanks!

My dad did say he had something that would do the trick, but as I know his shed is full of the weird and wonderful I turned him down

I've missed the boat now anyway, I walked past the shop earlier and it's gone - which I am quite pleased about I have to say, I can see I'd've ended up buying it if it had been there much longer and it would just languish in the garage giving me dirty looks