removing stock finish

Look up wood scrapers. It's just a thin rectangular bit of metal. Woodworking shops sell them. It's not a sharp edge that removes or scrapes the finish, it's the 'hook' that you roll on the edge of the scraper. Put the metal in a vise, with a long edge upward. Take a metal file and carefully file the edge square to the strip of metal. Then take a hard metal screwdriver (not what I use, but it'll do), and holding it at a slight angle to the top edge, roll a metal edge onto the metal scraper. Much easier to do than it is to explain. If it scrapes well, you did it right. If not, try again. Once you get the hang of it, it's so simple and easy to do. Gotta be easier than finding just the right chunk of broken glass.
 
If you want to go the route of a finishing kit that includes the stain and all that, I've used one from Miles Gilbert. The finish remover in it worked great. Now that I think about it you may be able to purchase just the finish remover alone. You would have to get it through Brownells or Midway or somewhere like that. Or you could always just put the elbow grease in some sand paper if you wanted to go on the cheap.
 
The easiest and best way to remove the finish is to take it to a "dip strip" professional stripping service and let them do it. I did that with the last two stocks I did and they will remove the finish and stain leaving the wood bare, and ready for sanding and further finishing.

Citrus Strip works okay on water based finishes but on lacquer and oil finishes is slow and difficult. For those finishes you really need a stripper with methylene chloride in it. You need to use rubber gloves with it and be careful like any other industrial chemical.

I've used methylene chloride strippers for years. Generally, you have to go to a professional paint store to get them or a good hardware store. ZIP STRIP is one brand that can be found at most Ace and TruValue hardware stores and comes in liquid and spray cans. I prefer the liquid and apply it with a cheap, throw away brush.

If you want to scrape the wood - skip the glass and just use the correct tools which are, in fact, SCRAPERS. They come in different sizes and shapes and are made exactly for that purpose - scraping the finish off of wood.

But, the easiest and fastest way to get the stock to bare wood is to use a professional stripping service. You drop it off one day, and generally come back the next to pick up a clean, fully stripped, ready to finish piece of wood.

No muss, no chemicals, no time wasted stripping wood - and the final result will be better than you can do as they use a heated stripper in tanks - which you can't do.
 
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