I have a 77-year old house, and the woodwork (which was originally varnished, has been painted so many times (white) that it is starting to chip. Lately, I’ve been wondering if it is worth the effort to strip all of this old paint off, and restore the original wood finish. my uncle did this years ago, and it was a mess! Not to mention the labor involved-it took him most of a year to strip the molding in his house! Now, I see a product advertised in the infomercails-you supposedly wipe this stuff on, then scrape the old paint off with a putty knife! No odors, and no mess! Is it really this easy?
So, should I strip?
If in doubt, strip!
It’s not really that easy, especially with paint as old as what you’re probably dealing with. But, yes, stripping is probably your best option at this point if you want longevity.
Enjoy,
Steven
You should be aware of the dangers of dealing with old paint that is almost certainly lead-based. This site says that you should not attempt it yourself if lead based paint is present.
I stripped the varnish off one old oak door this summer, getting into all of the little moldings was such a pain. Proceed with caution, big job ahead. I am also skeptical about any “miracle” product. Then again, there is nothing nicer, IMHO, than wood trim.
[Moderator Hat ON]
Moving to IMHO.
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Strip! 
While yes, it is messy, it can be a big pain in the arse, etc., in the end you’ll have one of two things.
One, really nice looking wood.
Two, really crappy looking wood that is now perfect to paint over.
I’d do it in small chunks, tackling only one room at a time. That way your entire house won’t look like a war zone, and you can see what kind of condition the wood is underneath all that gunk.
<< If debugging is the art of removing bugs, then programming must be the art of inserting them. >>
I’m a part time handyman myself and I’ve painted many houses in my day. If I were you I would just go over the parts that were chiping with a scraper and a sander and then just paint over that bastard.
I’d have to see your house to be sure though. From experience I’ve only seen a very few amount of houses that actually did need to be strip.
OH and btw I came into this thread thinking I was going to read something waaaaay more diferent than this. I’m such a perv.
Miracle products for this process do not exist.
It is vain to look for them.
If you decide to strip, you will most likely be using a methelene chloride-type stripper.
I’ll offer this technical advice:
Methylene chloride is a very volitile substance, and will evaporate very quickly. For this reason it is mixed with wax. The cruddy, gloopy liquid that you get from the can is a mixture of methelene chloride and wax. The wax is not an active ingredient, but is added to act like a blanket, keeping the methelene chloride in contact with the painted surface for as long as possible.
Therefore:
Brush the material on once only. Lay it on, and do not 'work" it (slosh it around).
If you move it around too much, you will release the active ingredient. Brushing it on in one direction, and leaving it alone, allows the wax to slow the evaporation of the methylene chloride.
“Overworking” the material is the number one mistake that a beginer will make.
For vertical surfaces you will have to get a thick mixture.
It’s flammable. Be careful!
Good luck.
Change the molding.
Life’s too short!!!
Can I offer another idea? Our house needed quite a few doors and moldings stripped. We took the doors off (and most of the moldings) and took them to be dipped. There are places which have large vats of unappealing and probably toxic chemicals into which they lower your woodwork and leave for a couple of hours. They come back perfect. (well, as perfect as the wood underneath was). I think we paid 10 quid (pounds) each door, and that included pickup and delivery. I promise you it’s worth it.
There are stripping kits that include plasticy covering material. Put the stripper on, cover with the plastic. Let it work. Cf. Forbin’s post about the stuff evaporating. But you’ll still want to use suitable rubber gloves, ventilators (not dust masks) etc.
People who paint over Real Wood are evil.
Stripping molding is a miserable job and you probably have to do a lot of sanding afterwards if you are going for a natural look.
Dipping would work, but there’s no easy way to remove molding without tearing it up a lot.
Replacing the molding would be easier, but more pricey. ($2-3/linear foot for hardwood). Depends on how you value your time.If there are several layers of old paint, it will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to strip the molding. I dealt with this on a lovely maple nightstand I picked up at Salvation Army for $15. The result was worthwile, but it took me the better part of a day to work through the 3 coats of paint and original coat of varnish to get to the bare wood.
With trim, you’re going to be in for quite a job if you want it good enough to put on a natural finish. If you can scrape it well enough to put on a nice coat of paint, it may be worthwhile, though.