Hope to remove old sticky finish

[KeenToLearn]

Have in family an old probably 100+ year old mirror, with a varnish (shellac?) finish on the surround. The issue is that under the varnish is a painted design, so cannot sand off the old finish; there are also a number of brass ornamental screwheads around the perimeter. Does anyone have any experience of refinishing this kind of item? Hope the photos are clear enough, can always take more.

 

[Inspector]

Get some alcohol and in a spot on the back try rubbing a little on it. If it is Shellac it may melt it together enough to smooth it. Effectively refinishing the surface with the existing finish. If you get good results do the front.

Pete

 

[KeenToLearn]

Get some alcohol and in a spot on the back try rubbing a little on it. If it is Shellac it may melt it together enough to smooth it. Effectively refinishing the surface with the existing finish. If you get good results do the front.

Pete

Thanks Pete, I will try. Just worried about removing the painted design beneath the shellac

 

[profchris]

There's a good chance the paint is not, or not very, soluble in alcohol.

If you go gently you might be able to wipe off much of the varnish, if it is shellac, without going though to the paint. If so, that might smooth it enough so you can refinish over the top (I'd suggest clear shellac in that case, wiping on a series of thin coats until you like the result).

However, old shellac gradually becomes very resistant to alcohol, so it might take quite a lot of wiping to remove/smooth it. It looks as if it's quite dark, so at least you will able to see if it is coming off on your cloth wetted with alcohol (blue meths is fine for this). If it is, then it's just time and patience!

Your pictures are very low resolution - if you have sharper ones we might have a better idea..

 

[Fergie 307]

This sort of bobbly appearance is quite common in old French polished items. No idea what causes it but see it a lot on old clocks. I'm guessing it is caused by damp s the clocks and other items I have seen like this show evidence of having been stored in a damp environment, rusty main spring and steel components etc. If it is shellac based then a vigorous rub with alcohol should smooth it. My concern is the decoration. Are you sure it's painted? Very often this sort of thing was applied by some kind of printing or transfer process. If that is the case it may be very difficult to remove or smooth the top finish without damaging it.
I would go very carefully, maybe with a q tip or similar on part of the decoration to see what happens. I recently had the same problem on an 1890's Gilbert clock with a printed floral design on the case plinth. I took some high resolution photos of it first. As suspected it proved impossible to get the damaged finish back without the design being damaged. Looking at it with a loupe it appeared as though the design had become incorporated into the bobbled surface. I ended up removing it then using my photos, with some photo shop doctoring, to reprint the design and put it back on the case using a transfer medium.
Your photos aren't great but look very similar.