We have a second-hand table with a mysterious finish.
The wood underneath is pale, possibly pine. With the finish, it's a slightly darker and "warmer" colour. The table is not antique; I'd guess only about 20 years old.
The finish is soft, so you can easily score lines in it with a fingernail. It feels slightly sticky if you just press it with a finger. It becomes VERY sticky if it gets wet, and will permanently stick to any paper left on it, so the paper can only be removed by painstakingly scrubbing it into shreds. It also turns white after getting wet, for an hour or so, then fades back to brown.
Because of the stickiness it attracts dirt horribly, and is covered in dark grime which is very hard to remove. The grime can be removed by lengthy scrubbing with a rough sponge and Flash kitchen spray, but then the finish partly comes off too.
We tried Nitromors paint and varnish remover, followed by white spirit. It made some progress at removing the finish, but left it patchy and smeary and not completely removed; I think we've had better results with Flash kitchen spray.
Can you help me identify the finish, and recommend a way to remove it properly?
Best Answer
By "White spirit", do you mean turpentine or mineral spirits? If that had no effect on it... My best guess would be that it's improperly cured polyurethane, or water-based polyurethane that wasn't mixed properly. Additionally, polyurethane doesn't take to pine well and is pretty resistant to being removed chemically, so there's another pointer in that direction.
You can try denatured alcohol. If it comes up with denatured alcohol, it's probably improperly mixed shellac.
What I'd probably do if I were you would be to sand it down completely back to bare wood, first with 80 grit and then 120 and 220 grits. I know it's a pain in the butt, but it'll provide the best finish overall. Then stain it and finish it again with something that isn't polyurethane... if you stain it, I'd recommend a lacquer finish like Deft, and then a really nice set of absorbent coasters so that you don't keep getting the surface wet. ;) Or if you do use polyurethane, use a satin spray in a rattlecan and bring it indoors to a moisture and temperature controlled environment to cure for 48 hours before you put it back into use. And your last option would be to paint it (after sanding back to bare wood, or it won't adhere!) with an oil-based enamel and a bit of penetrol.