The Historic District

Hey all, ont he tool chest I just bought, there is what appears to be more modern alkyd paint on top of the original paint (which looks very like milk paint), the adhesion is not good (as you would expect). I am wondering, given that milk paint is notoriously hard to strip, what strippers would remove the modern paint but leave the milk paint the most intact? Almost hoping I could simply strip, clean and then protect the original finish rather than doing a complete refinish... am I living in the land of unicorns and rainbows?

I've had some success with using xylene to get modern paint off of old paint. As with anything, I'd recommend testing a small amount in an inconspicuous area first, as not all old paint is created equal. Also, if you try it, use it outside. Xylene doesn't exactly have the best smell.

or lacquer thinner maybe? sounds like a tough project though, no harm in experimenting.. I recall being at an auction and they hauled out a milk painted wash table.. the auction just went up and up and I was standing there going REALLY ??

If nothing else I suppose you could do new milk paint and distress the finish.

Citri-strip seems to be doing exactly what I need - photos to come soon

I wish I had known this sooner!

Here it is! I got the front and top done, just have to do the sides - the missing paint and wear predates the gray paint I removed.. I also removed the very rudimentary and non-original handle on the lid... now just have to work out what to do about the damage around the lock

Before


After

Looking good! Wow - and that wear is great too.

Thanks Sara, a few cosmetics left on the outside then I am going to apply wax to it for protection, but also to hopefully enhance the colors and show off some of the wear and distressing to it's best advantage. For now I am focussing on smaller repairs and refinishing on the inside, gluing veneer back and rejuvenating the original finish a little on other parts. Here is one of the drawer lids, the shellac is still wet on it but you can see the figured veneer - a bunch of that was cracked and peeling but I carefully glued it back scraped off the old finish and gave it three coats of shellac. The rest of the lid got a single coat. I'll wax with synthetic steel wool pad to knock back the sheen soon. You can see part of the damage from the break-in here. this repair is poor but solid so I decided to leave it as is rather than risk further damage trying to separate it again

Looking nice Mick ! I'd hide the big missing chunks with a tiny bit of epoxy wood to fill any serious voids.. the putty stuff... then touch up with paint and just leave the rest after you've done with the other touch ups.