I have some new pine wood shelves, unfinished. They have sticky residue from the adhesive tape that held the hangers/screws package to the shelf.

Since I would like to finish the shelves by staining and then coating with polyurethane, I believe I have to remove that residue before applying the stain. I am wondering how to do that. Should I try sanding it off? Or use something like denatured alcohol, mineral spirits, or turpentine? Or something completely different that I haven't thought of? Thanks for any help, especially if you have first-hand experience with this sort of thing.

-- Joy F (S.Central Wisc) (CatFlunky@excite.com), December 05, 2001

Answers

Sounds like a job for..... (duhnt duhntda)..... GooGone. I would say wd-40, but that might stain the shelf.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 06, 2001.

Yes. The first.

I'd be inclined to dust the adhesive with some form of powder first - lime or flour or talcum or dust - to fix the adhesive. Heck, even dryer lint or cotton wool. THEN sand with a fine grade of glass-paper.

There are solvents which will definitely dissolve the stuff, but then they (and it) will go into the wood. Best to remove it mechanically.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 06, 2001.

Do not use WD-40 as it is lubricant and probably will really gum the wood up more than now. Sanding should work, but first use a sharp edge scraper (a piece of glass window works) to remove as much as possible and then sand. Better would be to only scrape the entire area that needs attention (larger that just the area with the adhesive) and then lightly sand the entire shelf. Test any removal products you plan to use on scrap wood first to see if they stain (at this point in the test you only care about staining) and make sure they are completely dry before passing judgment. I would take the shelves back to the store and demand product without labels.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), December 06, 2001.

JOY....I THINK IF YOU USED AN OIL BASED STAIN TO FINISH THE WOOD THE GLUE WOULD BASICLY LOOSEN ITSELF.BUT FIRST TRY USING A FINE SAND PAPER AND THE GLUE SHOULD COME OFF ON THAT.IT WILL PROBABLY GUM UP THE SAND PAPER BUT THATS HELPING GET IT OFF THE WOOD.

CORDWOODGUY

-- CORDWOODGUY (cordwoodguy@n2teaching.com), December 06, 2001.

I've heard of people using dry ice to get adhesive off floors...

-- Dawn (olsoncln@ecenet.com), December 06, 2001.