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About Eileen Cronk
Expertise
Hi..I can answer most questions about the repairing,stripping and refinishing of all your old furniture and wood items(the things we call antiques)I can give advice about what to buy/avoid at auctions/flea markets. I do not give appraisals on antiques.

Experience
I have been refinishing antiques for the past 30yrs. While I have taken several courses over the years,I have found that "hands on" learning is the best teacher. Perhaps I can help you avoid some of the mistakes I made while learning.

 
   

You are here:  Experts > Hobbies > Woodworking > Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks > stripping an outside pine door

Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks - stripping an outside pine door


Expert: Eileen Cronk - 11/6/2009

Question
Hi,

I just read your instructions for stripping cabinets with Circa 1850. I followed them but have more questions:

I have a paneled front door that I am trying to strip. The paint is quite thick and quite old. I did an initial layer of remover and scraping, but only one layer at a time seems to be coming off... is this normal? It doesnt seem strong enough. Or is it that the paint is so old (100yrs??) and so thick it is a tough job?

Most of the paint that is coming off is more from elbow grease than stripper...

thanks,
Kelly


Answer
Hi Kelly
Nice to hear from you.
Are you keeping the stripper wet? Are you giving the stripper time to work?
This stripper is the strongest we can buy but multiple coats of paint are the worst to remove.
A heat gun works best for this. You can remove 90% of the paint with a heat gun and the residue with stripper. Its still elbow grease but it does speed things but the danger of burning the wood is always present so these guns need a bit of experience to use.
And yes, what you are experiencing is normal. It often happens that the old paint will only come off one coat at a time. Just keep in mind this is the worse type of stripping there is.
The good side is you only have one door to do LOL.
I once worked on a restoration where we had 9 of these doors to strip.
It took two of us a week to complete....never want to repeat that.
Great question.
Regards
Eileen  

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