Residue from stripping furniture has dried and won't allow stain into the wood

Julia had a problem with dried stripping residue keeping stain from soaking into the wood of her dining room chairs and table until she sanded the residue from the furniture.

It appeared that she may have been letting the stripper sit too long before removing it.

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Remove stripping residue before staining

Email question:

julia wrote:

Stain won't soak into wood after stripping without sanding

What is wrong if after stripping, the stain will not soak into the wood? I am using Citri-strip and applied it several times, leaving it on for up to 12 hours at a time. The only way I can get the stain to take is to sand the chairs, which takes a long time--I'm trying to refinish ten dining chairs and the table.
Thanks for any advice you have.

Email reply:

Hi Julia

Strip residue from chair and table sooner

Try stripping the residue off sooner. Test after a few minutes to see if the old finish has softened. It sounds like maybe a portion of the residue is drying on the surface. You might try using the Citristrip stripper wash to remove the old residue too.

Lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol are good for removing dried on stripper too. Use 0000 steel wool with a wash to easily remove dried stripper residue.

Use plastic wrap to slow stripping residue drying

Citristrip stripper has a long open time, but depending on conditions, such as temperature and humidity it can dry quicker in some situations. After you apply the stripper cover it with plastic wrap if you plan to leave the stripper on for an exended time.

The plastic wrap will hold the solvents in and keep them from evaporating too soon.