Info needed: Wood Surface Paint Removal Question

[David Dunlop]

Has anyone ever used a Dremel and Brass Wire Wheel in tight spaces to strip paint off wood items?

I have some quarter inch to half inch, inside and outside right angle surfaces to deal with on the inside of my coil case, where a lot of NATO Green paint got slathered onto the pine boards.

My thought would be to start a low speeds and slowly increase to where the wheel is starting to be effective and do not exceed that point.

David

[Alex van de Wetering]

I did try this on a CMP shovel; paint stripper and brass wire wheel, as well as (steel)wire wool and brass wire brush. For me it worked OK, but not as good as I thought.....the paint I tried to remove was quite hardened and embedded in the grain....the wood itselfs seemed a bit softer, so the wire wheel tended to eat into the wood faster than removing the paint. I remove those last flakes of paint with a scalpel and a set of dentists tools.

David; I guess the best you could do is try a small area and see if the wood is soft or not.

[r.morrison]

David: Alex is pretty well spot on with his "formulation". Having been a contractor for over 40 years, I've stripped a bit of wood in my time. Avoid the brass/wire wheel if you can. It will rip the heck out of the wood. PATIENCE... is what you need and just use a sharp instrument and a small brass brush and paint remover. Some lacquer thinner helps too. There is no easy way. Trust me.

Good luck....Robert

[David Dunlop]

Thanks for the feedback, Gentlemen. Much appreciated.

I have used various liquid paint strippers over the years but in all cases I was dealing with common hardwoods which have a very tight grain and density, so I was not too concerned about the liquids from the stripper penetrating into the wood and becoming a latent risk. This is the first time I have ever considered liquid strippers on a softwood, like spruce, or in this case, pine, even if it is dry, 80 year old board. So I put that idea on hold.

I had forgotten about "0000" Steel Wool. Thanks for reminding me. Last time I had used that was to cut back the thin surface of the wood furniture from a Lee Enfield Mk V, which has been sitting in Cosmoline for 30 years.

On the current project, I have been working with small blocks of wood wrapped in sand paper. Slow, and hard on the fingers and wrists and regardless of task lighting, I always seem to be working in my own shadows, but the paint is disappearing. That old NATO Green is one tough enamel to start working on, but once you break through the surface hardened exterior bit, it does cut back fairly well.

What I am noticing, however, is that having to mask up due to the lead based paint dust is what slows me down the most. Breathing efficiency is definitely reduced.


David

[Jordan Baker]

Check out some readings on using Oxalic Acid crystals for stripping paint off of wood. Lye works as well but can be harder on some types of wood.