The New Infra-Red Stripper!
After lusting after an infra-red paint stripped for years, I finally broke down and purchased one.
Wanna see what it can do?
All the wood in the kitchen is CAKED with paint. Maybe a dozen layers? Maybe more? All was originally orange shellac, as confirmed by a microscopic test.
The infra-red stripper worked as promised. You hold it over a section for like 20 second, and then scrape the paint. It comes right off. ALL the paint. I was stunned.
You can clearly see the original shellac. It fascinates me that the finish has been hidden from sight for a century.
While the stripper removed the paint with ease and quickly, the little bit you see above took more time than expected, as this was due to the highly animated surface. If I was working with flat trim, I would have been done in no time.
So, time is needed to use the sharp tools which come with the stripper to slowly, carefully, scrape into all the deep channels and curved sections. All this is done with the stripper turned off and sitting nearby. In short, the stripper did its job in just a few minutes. Then I spent maybe 40 minutes scraping. Although this took time, the effort was not difficult as the paint was no longer attached to the wood.
I plan to now use paint stripper over the exposed section to remove all remaining paint and shellac. I need to expose bare wood in order to re-shellac.
I am repeating this image because something curious is revealed. See to the left of the hole? There is a horizontal line. That is bare wood. Meaning that something was there before the wainscoting was shellacked. A shelf? It will be fascinating to learn more as more is revealed!
Up on the third floor. The HUGE room is covered with headboard. This, too, was, shellacked. It must have been stunning. In the 1960s, it seems there were two fires in the attic (there was absolutely one fire. Recently, it seems that there was a second fire). I am guessing that the fires would have damaged the wood ceiling, which was then, presumably, covered with the sheetrock now in place. And which I hate. The room was also, presumably, painted at the same time. Sigh. GREAT sigh. Anyway, the infra-red stripper performed…poorly here. It took longer for the paint to react to the stripper, and then it was not easy to remove the paint.
I do not understand this.
One thought is that there is not enough paint on the wood (it appears to be only two layers) to react with the infra-red.
Well, I am baffled. And will contact the company which makes the stripper.
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I know that the tools that come with the scraper are sharpened and people love them. I wonder though if you could have a custom scraper made that matches the profile of your trim in places where you have lots of scraping to do.
I have a local metal fabricating place that humours me with these types of products. A laser cutting machine could cut the profile of the trim.
I’m picturing a piece of flat metal with the profile on one long side and with the short side about 4-6 inches wide. You could then in theory drag it down over the trim and remove a large percentage in a single pass.
I have no idea if this would work.
I have no idea what type of angle would be best or how sharp the scraper should be (or if you could easily grind it to resharpen it periodically).
I’m just thinking out loud!
I can’t wait to see that beautiful wooden trim restored!
A tantalizing idea, Jackie!
I’m glad you could purchase the stripper. Every time I see trim painted that was not meant to be it sends my blood pressure a little higher. I hope you can figure out the bugs and get it working properly in the attic!
Quick question, Ross. Are you sure the beadboard in the attic was shellacked? I’ve read the stripper doesn’t work as well on unvarnished woods.
Michael, if all the wood in the kitchen was shellacked, I just assumed same for third floor. Some of the paint has flaked off, revealing what appears to be shellacked wood, rather than raw wood.
I got the small one last year to do our exterior details. It is the bomb diggity for sure. Now lusting after the bigger one with the support arm big time. I better start couponing now, eh?
Ginger, I debated between getting the big one verses the small one. I got the one scaled to the house!
Ross Sherlock Homes to the rescue – you’ll figure out these mysteries, I have no doubt. 🙂
If not me, one of you will!
I had the same thought as Jackie and one similar to Michael’s.
It is easy for the people who have access to water jet cutters to cut out the exact profile of the trim if they have a sample of the trim. You may want to have cabinet scrapers cut to the profiles needed.
It is possible that there should be no angle sharpening the scraper, if it is dragged along at a right angle to the surface.
I would try to apply purple cleaner to the painted beadboard. Then cover with plastic like a garbage bag so it doesn’t all evaporate. After the cleaner has had time to work, wear gloves and scrub with a scrubber pad and wash off and dry with paper towels to absorb all of the paint as it dissolves .Straight vinegar or vinegar in the final cleaning water will neutralize the high base content of the cleaner. This has worked for me on what appears in your case to be thin paint, or whitewash on the walls. If it is whitewash, scrubbing with vinegar may work alone.
I will try that out, Stewart!
Yay Ross! I know it is a big investment, but my experience has proven it’s worth.
I think it will be, Devyn!
Yay Ross! I am sure you will crack the case!
Thank you, Sandra!
If it was painted after a fire, then it’s likely some sort of sealer. My dad talked about when they did home remodels after a fire they always painted any raw wood that wasn’t being removed with some sort of sealer. This was to keep the smell of smoke from seeping out on a warm day. I believe it was a shellac base sealer he was talking about, but it looks like paint when applied.
I just googled it, it’s zinsser primer. But there might be others, especially back in the 60s. Perhaps some other solvent would work better than infrared on that.
Interesting, Max. Thank you!
Most of my wood was flat, so stripping it was much easier. I do not envy you your stripping project. I found dental tools helped to get into the nooks and crannies. Best of luck, truly.
Thank you, Sharon!
Congratulations on your fancy new stripper! Glad to hear that it’s working so well in the kitchen.
I bet you will end up being right about a shelf being in that location. It would be a logical spot for one.
Weren’t you planning on some sort of cart in that location? Or possibly… a new shelf project in the
future for Dr. Doug.
“The HUGE room is covered with headboard.”
Is that beadboard, or is this something different?
Good luck figuring out the stripper! [I’d make a bad joke, but this isn’t JMG. ;-X ] Also looking forward to what you figure out by the mystery (shelf?) line.
Ross,
I was super skeptical too so I sourced an infrared element and made one on the cheap. I too was very impressed with the initial results (dark green paint) and disappointed by second attempt (yellow). It doesn’t work very well on white. As an experiment, We painted over yellow with black and boy did it make a difference. The infrared seems to reflect off light colors and soak into the dark ones creating the necessary heat to lift the paint. Try your own experiment with some left over dark paint on a light or clear finish. It seems like a waste but the results seem worth it.
Ross, I’m glad you got your meds and at no cost to boot. That’s the way it should be, you have enough to worry about when you have medical issues.
And the stripper sounds like it will be a time saver, except when you might have to paint over the light colors as Aaron’s comment says above. If it works that will be worth it. Lots of good suggestions from your readers.
You’re moving right along. Good luck.
The fact that the lighter strip of wood seems never to have been finished implies whatever was there, may have been there from the start. Yes? The fact that it leads directly to what looks like a junction box hole implies maybe it had something to do with electricity. Taken together, I wonder if there wasn’t a track of wood surface conduit for wiring here. Junction boxes weren’t a thing, but if there was some electrical function there from the start, one could see how later that same thing might get upgraded with a junction box. All just random speculation.
Bo!
The light strip really intrigues me. It indicates that a strip of something was placed over the wainscoting BEFORE the wainscoting was shellacked.
So, yes, the something had to be there in 1894.
I am gonna guess a shelf.
I have discounted the hole (which held an electrical outlet) as the house had no outlets in 1894. Nary a one! I plan to re-install an electrical outlet in the hole.
Also, more unshellacked lines may appear!
I love my Cobra, it is the best choice (IMO) when you have a lot of stripping to do…and I am stripping all the trim in our house one room at a time. I also noticed the same issue as you in regards to some paint not reacting as well, and the company helpdesk told me what someone here mentioned about how it depends on what was originally on the surface. Most of my trim is shellac covered by umpteen layers of paint, and it works really well; the pantry that I did last was apparently painted when new, and the paint had soaked into the new wood. The stripping process produced wood that appeared to have been whitewashed, and I had to sand it to remove that minute surface layer of wood. Fortunately it was only three doors and a small window, so much smaller scale that your entire attic. I hope that you are able to figure something out; some friends of ours have an entire attic with original unpainted bead board, and it is one of the most impressive sights in the entire house.