stripper comparison

[Greg Newell]

Arthur,
    I am going to copy the post I made to both Pianotech and Master Piano Tech.
I hope you cna take this in the spirit with which it was written. If you have
any questions or comments I will giv you my full contact info. I don't expect
to recieve a quart of your product since my post is not terribly flattering.
None the less, here it is;
    Greg newell
    Greg's Piano Forté
    12970 Harlon Ave.
    Lakewood, Ohio 44107
    216-226-3791
    216-496-3522 (mobil)
    Here then is the text of the message I sent to the above mentioned lists.

O.K. folks for those of you who got the wrong idea from the subject
line, your in the wrong forum. :~) Now, I must respond to the latest
post from Arthur Grudko from Starhawk Labs. I'm not sure what exactly he
is testing or how but I have what I think is much better than what the
ones he is testing here. I must however admit that there is some vapor
to contend with though not too bad.
    I was somewhat skeptical when I read Mr. Grudko's post mainly
because of the cost of a "good" stripper compound so I tried my own
little test. I have for refinishing in my shop a customers 20's vintage
A.B. Chase grand with an old varnish seemingly not too dissimilar to
what Mr. Grudko describes. I just went to grab the music desk glide
track and some of "my choice" chemical  and stripped it to bare wood in
5 , count them 5, minutes! Now I'm sure my testing wasn't nearly as
scientific as the lauded Mr. Grudko but ..... 5 MINUTES!
    Please do not misunderstand the nature of this post. I in no way
intend to "dis" Mr. Grudko in any way. I mentioned the name of the
product I found at Home Depot several weeks ago and I believe it must
have went ignored. For those of you who may be interested the brand is
Klean Strip and the product is called Klean Kutter Remover. It claims to
work (and seems to) on varnish, lacquer and shellac on all types of
wood. What I've seen it do is to literally dissolve the old finish in a
very short time and leave a very clean surface. I've just used an old
paint brush to continually apply the water like consistency chemical and
let the chemical drip back into a basin and before long the finish is
dripping off of the wood dissolved in the stripper.
    I'm no rocket scientist as the saying goes, but I would rather spend
a shorter amount of time at a much lower price than the alternative
suggested by Mr. Grudko. The last project I did I stripped the entire
lid of an average sized grand in about 20 minutes. Cool Stuff!!!

Greg Newell





gutlo wrote:

> > Date: Saturday, December 30, 2000 12:48 PM
> >
> > Arthur,
> >
> > You mentioned you would post the results of the comparisons you were
> > going to make between different finish strippers.  If you posted them to
> > the list, I missed it. Have you finished your experiment?  Is the
> > verdict in?
> >
> > John Voigt
> >
> > Yes, John and List, the verdict is in.
>
> I tested Woodfinisher's Pride, Savogran NMP-based stripper, Citristrip, and
> Dyna 2.
>
> The winner, by any measure, by a huge margin is Dyna 2.
>
> WP, Savogran, and Citripstrip are all gels.  They are prone to dripping and
> sagging on vertical surfaces, must be re-applied (sometimes 3 times) to be
> effective, and even then don't strip down to the bare wood.  They have a
> pronounced odor (especially Citristrip) and take around 1 hour for each
> application to work.
>
> Dyna 2 is a heavy paste.  No matter how much you pile on, it will not drip
> or sag.  It has extremely low odor because its NMP penetrates down into the
> coating, not evaporating into the air.  It forms a skin as it works, and
> one hour later, it peels off like a banana skin, revealing the bare wood.
>
> Its green color acts like an inidicator-when it starts to turn dark brown,
> it's time to test scrape with a spatula.
>
> These tests were performed on an 1876 Knabe with the original varnish
> finish-very thick and very hard.
>
> The savings in labor and material with Dyna 2 are significant.  The virtual
> absence of odor is important, as most of us work in small shops where
> ventilation in the cold weather can be a problem.
>
> Dyna 2 has been available in commercial quantities sold directly to big
> industrial users.  The company has graciously allowed StarHawk Labs to be a
> sort of beta tester.  They have shipped me 6, 1/2 pint containers with tech
> data sheets to give to interested parties on the list.  If the feedback is
> good, StarHawk will become a distributor.
>
> Dyna 2 will cost $48/gallon.  Citristrip sells in New York for $21/half
> gallon.  This makes Dyna 2 an incredible bargain, at only $6/gallon more,
> for far greater performance and efficiency.
>
> The first 6 respondents to this posting will received, free of charge, the
> half pint.  I only ask that you post your opinions, good or bad.  Email
> your snailmail address.
>
> Arthur Grudko
> StarHawk Labs, Manufacturer of PianoLac, the Waterborne That Works

--
Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net