I have two words for you: Heat Gun.
I fell in love with this device about 5 seconds after using it when the paint began to bubble and peel off immediately. My previous experiences working with chemical strippers left me frustrated and with unattractive results.
Perhaps they are more effective if you are not attempting to remove 10 layers of paint at once. After a couple of hours of layering on the stripper, waiting for it to work, scraping off some of the paint and then repeating this process again and again, only to be left with wood that looked uneven and splotchy, I was considering giving up and giving in and just paint it all. I decided to try another chemical that is supposed to remove 7 layers of paint (right up my alley) and be stronger than the others. I would say it was even less effective than the others.
I thought I’d give it one last try with the heat gun, and after about 5 minutes of fiddling with it to get the hang of it, I was removing paint in long strips leaving a clean board behind. So, here is my how to strip paint with the heat gun: (more…)
