Learned the hard way that cheap stripper costs you time and money

I bought a $12 can of stripper from the big box store to strip a oak dresser I found on the curb. After four coats and two hours of scraping, most of the old finish was still stuck in the grain. My neighbor loaned me a $35 quart of professional-grade stripper from Sherwin-Williams, and it lifted everything in one pass. That cheap can cost me an entire Saturday I'll never get back. Anyone else had a similar experience with bargain strippers?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_drew1mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh yeah, the cheap stuff is a total trap. That $12 can should come with a warning label that says "you're gonna spend twice as long scraping and still have to sand it all off anyway." I learned this exact lesson on a set of kitchen cabinets someone was gonna throw out. Went through a whole can of that big box garbage, made a huge mess, and still had to hit it with a belt sander to get the last bits out. The pro stuff costs more up front but it's like comparing a butter knife to a chef's knife for cutting a tomato. You're not just paying for the chemical, you're paying for your time not to be wasted.

dixon.felix1mo ago

The cheap stuff is just a way to transfer your money into frustration, learned that on an old dresser I thought would be a quick project. Ended up spending three weekends on a job that should have taken one afternoon because I was too stubborn to just buy the good remover. Your tomato analogy is spot on, nobody wants to eat a smashed tomato.