Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - advice for refinishing antique walnut buffet

In the process of stripping multiple layers of white latex paint off of a 1920's buffet. The carvings on the doors front turn out to be some type of putty molding. Has anyone ran into this type of materials and will my "earth friendly stripper" harm it. Also any advice for finish (wax, varnish, tung oil etc...).

Sounds like a beautiful piece of woodwork. I'd simply try applying a small amount of your stripper in an inconspicuous area of the moulding, I've never dealt with it before, I've heard of moulding silicon for stuff like that, but in antiques I've never seen it. I'm not sure how it'd look and it's up to you, but a good option is usually to keep the finish natural, or use a light stain, or something like linseed oil that will leave a light finish. Then you can use a dark colored latex based paint to finish the moulding, the result is a great contrast that should look proffesional, and allow the patterns of the moulding to be seen. You can do this by using a small hobby brush and carefully going around the perimeter, and then filling in the rest with a one inch or one and a half inch brush. This of course follows whatever you decide for finishing the rest of the wood. If it were myself, I'd probably use a very light colored water based stain, paint the moulding, and top it with a good paste wax after it's dry, I'm not a huge fan of polyurethane on something like that, but if it's going to be subjected to heavy use poly is a good idea, and I'd use some water based poly on the moulding. If you only used latex/acrylic/water based finishes it's difficult to harm anything. I hope I've helped you out, and if you can, try to obtain your supplies at a local hardware or paint store, a lot of them are in need of business lately. feel free to send me a personal message if I was at all unclear.

With a piece that age I'd suspect the moulding is plaster or similar.I don't think your stripper would effect it but I'd try it in an out of the way spot first.I'd be more concerned about the removal process as if it is plaster it may scratch,chip etc.Avoid wire brushes,steel wool etc.