I watched a cabinet maker refinish old furniture. I tried his technique and it works. I used a good 4 inch putty or drywall knife and sharpened it razor sharp on a belt sander then finish it with 220 paper on the cast iron top of my table saw. I hold the knife about 90 degrees to the surface and scrape. adjust the angle and presssure until it flakes off as you scrape. three layers came off easy. be careful with the sharp corners of the knife. mabe round them a bit. when 95 % of the paint is off i used aircraft stripper then washed it off with my 3500-psi pressure washer. sanding was minimal.