I found this swan when I was out antiquing. I’m a swan lover if you haven’t noticed by now, haha. I neeeeeeded it, but didn’t love the dark orangey color.
I initially accidentally sprayed a furniture strip on it instead of the strip I was trying to use, realized I was out of the correct strip, so I switched to oven cleaner after I cleaned the other strip off. I waited about an hour to see if the strip would work and it’s not that it didn’t work at all, but the oven cleaner worked so much better!
I sprayed it with oven cleaner, let it sit for about 20 minutes, and voila! Sometimes oven cleaner works amazingly well, sometimes it doesn’t work great.
I was actually a little surprised that it worked good on this one. I thought it was going to be tough since it was a darker stain with the orangey sealer.
I have more details on how I use oven cleaner for stripping and things that I’ve learned from using it, on this post. The brands that I’ve had good luck with thus far are Easy Off, and the generic Walmart brand. When I’m at Walmart and they have some in stock, I usually grab those cans because it’s cheaper.
Project success…on to the next project.
Update: I wanted to try to lighten the swans even more. I mixed some water and barkeepers friend, wiped it on the swan, let the mixture sit on the swan overnight, and then scrubbed and rinsed in the morning. Wow! Check out how much more it bleached out the wood!!
From reddish, dark brown wood to bleached wood…I love love love it!!!
I like swans too! But all of mine are white glassware. That carving is beautiful.
Love how it turned out, but I love how everything turns out that you redo!!
I love how it turned out! Commenting so you can build a million dollar house!
This turned out so beautiful I like it better this way it just adds more character you have so man beautiful pieces great job kudos to you????????????????????????????????????????
You do the most amazing work. Question I have is do you seal after stripping or leave raw? If so what did you use?
What type of brush do you scrub with? A soft or hard bristle?
This is sooo stupid, so please forgive me but I keep wondering, as I watch you spray off the oven cleaner in your backyard, isn’t that kind of toxic? Is it bad for the soil around your house? I know, stupid, but I’m so curious about trying it ???? I LOVE your posts and sense of humor and your creativity.
I swear you find the best stuff. It’s beautiful
Don’t know how I found this blog but I saw “ swan” and had to stop by.
I’m also a swan collector! Had to stop collecting cause u ran out of space. I’ve got very nice ones too.
It’s having the vision to see beyond the sometimes ‘awful’ finish. I checked out the ingredient in oven cleaner and find it’s the same as the caustic soda I used to mix witth water to strip pine furniture years ago! Swan looks beautiful. Pat (UK) x