Walking stick advice please.

[Woody girl]

Today I had some sad news that a friend had passed and left me his antler tine topped walking stick. It's a lovely thing and I will treasure it.
There is just one thing about it. He covered the tine handle and the bark on the stick with a horrible yellow varnish. Is there some safe way to get it off without damage?. I obviously want to keep it as origional as possible and it was always a joke between us that if I could get hold of his stick I'd take off that blooming awful varnish and oil it properly. I obviously now have his permission to do so.. but I'm not sure if using paint stripper is a good idea. Any advice please?

 

[Fadcode]

There are lots of home made varnish remover recipes on the internet, I would advise using some of those mild ones before going for an industrial one such as nitromors, etc, test on a small section first to survey the possible damage .

 

[Robson Valley]

I'd try sanding first, as dusty as it will be. The strippers are all or nothing, you can't turn back.
I can't help but wonder if a stripper chemical might damage the antler tine (protein and mineral, not wood!)
OTOH, keep the varnish for the memory of the discussion about removing it?

I'm 5 minutes away from going to the diamond willow furniture shop to have 2 new canes fitted to me for length.
They all get 4 coats of MinWax Tung Oil Protective Finish. That looks water wet and really shows off
the contrasting blond and brown grain patterns.

What sort of an oil finish are you thinking of? Something like fine walnut gun stocks?

 

[Nice65]

It’s going to be difficult to remove the varnish if you want to preserve the bark. My first attempt would be Nitromors and a brush. But having had a bit of a hard time getting varnish off a Beech gunstock and out of the wood grain, I know you’re in for some serious toil. Sanding will cut into the bark too much I think.

A liquid gel and stiff brush should work, but I don’t think you’ll get it all. What type of wood is it?

 

[Woody girl]

No idea what to do at the moment as it's still a bit raw and too early yet to do anything. It was always a bit of a joke between us realy and to be honest I realy didn't give it much thought past that. I realy did not expect this to happen. He was only 68. I was thinking of using nail varnish remover on the antler and nitromors on the wood. The bark is still on the stick. I think it is hazel . I know it will be difficult but I'd like to do a good job on it.

 

[santaman2000]

No idea really but I would like to see pix of the stick. Both before and after.

 

[Woody girl]

Can't post pics at the moment. I'd like to be able to but I'm quite computer illiterate! I will take a photo as is now and if I decide to do anything to it, afterwards. I've thought about what RV said and may leave it as is. But I'd still like to know what to use if I do decide to get the varnish off.

 

[santaman2000]

Yeah, I’m pretty computer illiterate too. Seems even more so as I’ve recently switched from a windows laptop to an iPad.

 

[Robson Valley]

Google "Diamond Willow" and select 'Images' to see a variety of the wood figures like what I have purchased locally today.
The raw stems look gray and crappy.
Then all the bark gets stripped.
Then the sticks are dried for years, depending on thickness.
Then the crud in the diamonds of drilled out with power carving.
Then a month of power drum sanding.
Then assembly and finishing.
Then today, I was measured and the sticks were cut to my needed length. 35 3/4" total from 38" I think he said.
A huge power tenon cutter stepped down the fresh tips for the rubber feet.

BTW, I asked about the varnish issue you have. The shop guys said to sand it for better control.
You may need to work down to the wood.

 

[firedfromthecircus]

It does depend on the kind of varnish used but a heat gun and scraper might be able to lift it if it's poly based.
If that doesn't work I'd be looking at a stripper especially designed for wood such as this from Liberon. https://www.liberon.co.uk/product/fine-wood-stripper/

 

[Laurentius]

Sacrilege is all I can say, I use boiled linseed oil on mine and nothing else.

 

[Robson Valley]

BLO is durable but doesn't the lustre of a good gunstock oil finish (Birchwood-Casey/Brownell's).

Diamond Willow shows spectacular contrast between blonde sap wood and many, many browns of heart wood.
MinWax Tung Oil Protective Finish is a good choice. Four coats sets up quite hard for durability.

 

[Woody girl]

Well I've used nitromores on the wood and I reckon it'd done an ok job. Not a great job but it's OK. Now to lightly sand and oil it tonight and see tomorrow what it looks like. My big problem is the antler tine handle.it looks very shiny now. Nail varnish did not work. I don't realy want to sand it down as it will take away all the lovely texture. What next please?

 

[Robson Valley]

Maybe a "fix" is an overpainting? Best to scuff up the surface for a tooth is not sandpaper but steel wool.
I never finish any wood carvings with sand paper. I don't need shreddies.

In among artist's supplies, you should be able to find bottles of acrylic paint meduim = paint with no pigment, meant for making washes, OK?
You can lay it on straight as a glaze. Here, I find matte, satin and gloss.
Most every common paint brand has one.
Windsor & Newton, Cotmann, Grumbacher, daVinci, Stevenson, Binney, Speedball. . .
the usual gang of overpriced thieves. Most of mine are Liquitex ( lots of airbrush stuff)