Dear Everyone,
As you all know, stripping old finishes is one of
the most disgusting aspects of restoration and, after
30 years, I stumbled across a procedure that is ALMOST
non-totally-disgusting, and didn't even rot my brain
or wreck my hands !!!! This may seem dumb and
elementary, but I'm gonna describe it, directly.
Get: Get at least 2 gas masks from auto-paint supply
stores. I get 3M ones for about $20 each, here, and
they work great! Disposable, and a lot cheaper than
at Home Depot or Lowe's ( And I wonder: If I warm
them, can I get the solvents to evaporate back out
from the activated charcoal, and extend their life ???
) Get several pairs of stripping gloves, gallons of
denatured alcohol, quarts of
"Citra-Strip", stripping pads ( the D-handle with the
rough blue pads, and the finer green ones ) and a
brass-bristle pot scrubbing brush, like grocery stores
sell. Also get a bunch of large sheets of cardboard,
and a plasic tarp. I get boxes from the local futon
shop, which are like
6' long, 4'wide cardboard trays, with 2 halves.
Put the plastic down on the ground, outside, put
the cardboard down on top of it, put wooden blocks or
plastic bottles with flat sides down ( like small
isopropyl alcohol bottles ) to keep the piece up off
the cardboard a bit, and put down the piece to be
stripped. Blooge some stripper into a glass or metal
bowl, and dunk the handled-pad into it. Wipe it on
quickly, without a lot of brushing, and wait a
half-hour. Come back, scrub the piece with the grain,
with the pad, creating a sludge, then scape off the
resulting gloop with a plastic putty knife ( round the
corners to prevent scratching. ) Then dunk the brass
brush into some alcohol in another no-spill container
and scrub with the grain. This will get old filler,
finish and varnish remover out of the pores of the
wood better than anything, yet leave no visible
scratches. Wipe up the residue with paper towells, and
wipe and scrub some more until it is clrean enough.
Advantages: The Citra-Strip doesn't go through the
gas mask and poison you like "regular" strippers do.
Neither does it penetrate/eat the gloves, like other
strippers do. So, although it's twice as expensive,
initially, it will FAR MORE than make up for this,
both in savings on gas masks and gloves, AND in saving
your brain from destruction, and the destruction of
the nerves in your hands !!!!! Similarly, the
denatured alcohol does not eat the mask, your brain,
the gloves or your hands like "hotter" solvents do,
like lacquer thinner, for example, yet cleans away the
residue beautifully. The cardboard soaks up spillage,
and the plastic keeps it from going into the ground.
And if I DID spill a little ( though I'm careful not
to ) I'd MUCH rather it were alcohol, a wood
distillate, that evaporates quickly, than lacquer
thinner. And no water is used, so the system is safer
for veneer.
Put the soiled cardboard under a roof somewhere,
if it is going to rain, until the solvents evaporate
away. Then re-use it, or throw it in a dumpster when
it is thoroughlky dry. ( An EPA-acceptable way to get
rid of the stuff. )
Thump
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