Refinishing a Secondhand Dresser
The first decision when taking on a secondhand piece is whether the existing finish needs removing. Stripping is the default assumption and it is frequently wrong. A finish that is dull, grubby and marked is often intact underneath, and reviving it is a fraction of the work and leaves the piece looking its age rather than looking new.
Begin by cleaning rather than stripping. Decades of accumulated wax, smoke and handling form a layer that reads as damaged finish and usually is not. Removing that layer with a mild solvent appropriate to the finish, worked in small areas, often reveals a surface that only needs waxing. Test in a hidden area first, because the solvent that cleans one finish will dissolve another.
Identifying the finish is therefore worth a minute. A drop of alcohol in an inconspicuous place will soften shellac and leave most varnishes alone. A drop of lacquer thinner will soften lacquer. If neither does anything, it is likely a cured varnish or a modern catalysed finish, and that changes both the cleaning approach and what can be applied over the top.
Where the finish genuinely must come off, work with the construction rather than against it. Veneered surfaces are common on older case furniture and the veneer may be very thin, so aggressive abrasive work will go through it, usually at the edges and corners where pressure concentrates. Chemical removal followed by careful scraping is safer on veneer than any amount of sanding.
Damage worth repairing before refinishing includes loose joints and lifted veneer, both of which get much harder to address once a new finish is on. A loose joint should be taken apart and cleaned of old adhesive rather than flooded with new, since fresh glue over old glue is a joint that will fail again. Lifted veneer usually responds to reactivating the original adhesive with heat and moisture and clamping it back down with a flat caul.
When a new finish does go on, match it to how the piece will be used rather than to what was there before. A dresser top takes cups and keys and benefits from a film finish; the sides and drawer fronts see far less and can take something thinner and more repairable. There is no requirement that the whole piece wear the same finish, only that the surfaces seen together look consistent.