DON'T LET YOUR FINE FURNITURE AND ANTIQUES BE "STRIPPED" THE WRONG WAY. I gotta warn you, there are a lot of places "out there" that just DO NOT know what they are doing and are not properly equipped to do it correctly and environmentally safe. PLEASE LET US HELP YOU!
We DO NOT dip strip! We have THE FINEST QUALITY OVERFLOW STRIPPING SYSTEM in the Midwest!
and, we ENVIRONMENTALLY RECYCLE both the chemicals and the rinse water!

Want a bid to strip your finish?

If you are from the Greater Kansas City area & have a digital camera, why don't you submit a bid request?

Take a picture from the front also showing a side, then take a picture from the back also showing the other side. Take a close up of any details or repairs needed. It is that simple.

Email them to: mgt@thewoodworksinc.com and be sure to include your city, state and zip.
Start your Subject Line with FINISH STRIP BID INQUIRY.

OUR FURNITURE STRIPPING SYSTEM:

The Wood Works Inc has recently installed an absolutely cutting edge furniture stripping system. It is the best known anywhere operated by a business like us.

Not every small business that performs furniture stripping and refinishing can do what The Wood Works Inc has done. We have made the investment to make it as effective, efficient, and environmentally clean an operation that is cost and result beneficial to the client and their item, as possible.

BACKGROUND:

The nation’s furniture repair and refinishing industry primarily consists of small businesses of several staff including an owner, hired sales/service staff, and hired furniture repair/refinishing staff; or, small one-man operations. In either situation the operation is truly a small business.

The historical approach to operating a furniture stripping system, using the most effective chemical methylene chloride, was to understand that the hazardous fumes it generated acted like dry ice in that the fumes generally fell over the side of the stripping tray, or dip tank, and fell to the floor level. A low-level exhaust fan was used to draw the dangerous fumes to the exterior of the building. The goal was to not breathe the fumes. Generally, no special exhaust systems were understood to be required for the other phases involved: water rinsing area, the chemical handling area, or the drying room area.

HOW OTHERS DO IT:

Furniture stripping generally has been performed by:

• The hand stripping system: Just like the do-it-yourselfer, off-the-shelf stripping chemicals are applied to the item. The finish and chemicals are removed with scrapers, brushes, and other means, creating a mess and a hazardous waste that almost never is properly disposed. There is no control of the fumes. It is slow and ineffective, but doesn't require any special equipment.
• The dip tank system:The furniture item was submerged in a large vat full of the chemical and left long enough for the chemical to remove the refinish. The bad image from such a procedure comes from leaving the item in the vat too long; which can damage the wood, veneer, and joints of the item. The item soaks in the chemical too long, but involves little staff time. There is little to no control of the fumes.
• The flow-over tray system: The furniture item is placed in a large metal tray. The stripper chemical is poured or pumped over the item, the chemical is allowed to work, and the stripped finish is removed with scrapers, brushes, and other means. The residue drains out of the tray into a collection bucket. The advantage over hand stripping is that it is somewhat faster and allows recirculation of the costly stripper chemical.  The used contaminated stripper usually gets used again but is dirtied and less effective than clean fresh stripper. Eventually the hazardous waste sludge must still be dealt with. With a low-level exhaust fan there is inadequate control of the fumes.
• In all three approaches, once the item is removed from the stripping process it must be rinsed with water to neutralize the chemical and to remove the final stripper and finish left in the grain of the wood. How the contaminated water is safely disposed becomes a question. There is usually little to no control of the contaminated moisture laden exhaust air, if any. AND there is the question of how the contaminated rinse water is purified and disposed. Our rinse water is fully processed and properly disposed.
• In all three approaches, once the item is rinsed, it must be set aside to dry, often in the open shop area with staff working nearby.  There is generally no attempt to exhaust the slowly emitted fumes. It has been learned that the off gassing of the chemical during drying is almost more dangerous than the actual stripping; it is just that it occurs more slowly.

Government regulations now require furniture-stripping businesses to maximize control of the hazardous fumes from use of the stripper chemical methylene chloride. The regulations require that handling, use, and disposal of the methylene chloride include an appropriate means for capture and exhaust for every source of the fumes. The goal is to keep the fumes away from the staff’s breathing zone to a dramatic degree, a degree never before even dreamed as feasible. And, not just in the actual stripping, but in all phases of chemical handling.

The dramatically improved control of all the fumes away from the staff person performing the stripping process can be accomplished by:

• Installation of “good work practices” for the worker’s safety.
• Installation of “mechanical and engineering mechanisms” to increase air control and exhaust to lower methylene chloride vapors in the breathing zone of the worker.

HOW THE WOOD WORKS INC. HAS IMPROVED “THE SYSTEMS”:

After a detailed listing was developed of over 150 steps in handling the methylene chloride, The Wood Works Inc installed “good work practices”. No investment in mechanical or engineering controls will be successful without first installing better “good work practices”. We made dozens and dozens of procedural changes for improvement.

Finally, The Wood Works Inc invested in the mechanical and engineering mechanisms. That major investment included the specialized equipment, space, and systems thought necessary and known to be possible. We know of no business anywhere that has such an effective total system.

How safe and environmentally friendly are your items being stripped of their finish?