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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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