TikTok and Instagram are awash with accounts showcasing Diy and furnishings flipping tutorial movies that make refinishing thrift retail store finds into pricey-on the lookout parts appear quick and quick. (Of training course, when you edit four hours of paint-stripping and sanding down to two seconds, you can make any venture appear to be speedy and straightforward.)
Many of these video clips demonstrate time-saving “hacks” that supposedly received them by way of the undertaking in record time. A the latest case in point of this is working with oven cleaner to strip wood. Although this viral trick can get the position performed, it is not a match for each and every project, and can in some cases do far more harm than superior to your household furniture. Here’s what to know.
Can you use oven cleaner to strip wood?
Oven cleaner can properly clear away some stains and varnishes from sure varieties of good wood household furniture (i.e. not wood veneers or laminates). It is effective since most oven cleaners and dedicating stripping items contain sodium hydroxide (also known as lye or caustic soda). Although some people have experienced achievements using oven cleaner on painted furniture, the technique tends not to do the job as nicely as it does with stains and varnishes.
If you’re really trapped and do not have other alternatives, using oven cleaner as a wood stripper may be truly worth a shot (as extended as you use it safely—more on that in a moment). But if you are going to the retail outlet and obtaining a new product or service, you may possibly as very well go with the just one that was formulated specifically for stripping stain, varnish, or paint.
Does oven cleaner harm wood?
Utilizing oven cleaner to strip wooden will dry its fibers out, leaving the wooden brittle and increasing the chances of it splitting. It will also slowly bleach the wood—although that may be anything you want, dependent on the look you’re soon after.
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How to strip wooden applying oven cleaner
Irrespective of whether you’re applying oven cleaner to strip wood or clean up an oven, don’t forget that it contains harsh chemicals, and you should get all good protection safety measures when employing with it. This usually means doing the job in a (extremely) effectively-ventilated place (ideally outside the house, but a garage or shed with the doorways open up can operate, way too), donning gloves, eye protection, and a experience mask—even if the merchandise is labeled as being “fume-no cost.”
Whilst oven cleaner will come in various forms (i.e. powders, gels, liquids), it tends to be least difficult to use a spray-on version. Here’s what to do:
- Get started by completely cleansing the home furnishings to take out any dust, dust, sticky stains, or other debris.
- Then, in your perfectly-ventilated room, include the piece in a layer of oven cleaner.
- Wait around 30 minutes.
- Scrub it working with a brush and dish cleaning soap.
- Rinse it off employing a hose.
It may choose numerous rounds of this process to clear away the stain or varnish from the product.
