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Ando967
16th November 2014, 01:23 PM
Hey all,

Not sure if this is the right section for this but here goes. I've managed to reclaim a whole heap of celery top pine and a few nice lengths of Huon pine from a house we've been renovation. Now I've got a project in mind for it however it's has all been painted white on one side, just thinking about the best way to clean it up, run it over our workshop buzzer one arvo, or just use the electric hand plane? Thoughts?

NCArcher
16th November 2014, 01:27 PM
The workshop buzzer would be faster but paint can be hard on knives. There may be nail heads hidden under the paint too.
Use a good mask as old paint may be lead based.
A big belt sander would be good but make a lot more dust

Ando967
16th November 2014, 01:37 PM
Yeah the lining boards are a ship lapped pattern and I've slowly been de nailing and dressing on the tablesaw, finishing up with about 75 x 22mm, I thought the same thing about it being hard on the buzzer blades. I do have a belt sander but thought it'd be to slow and haphazard?

Tonyz
16th November 2014, 01:46 PM
, I thought the same thing about it being hard on the buzzer blades. I do have a belt sander but thought it'd be to slow and haphazard?

welcome to the REAL world of recycling :rolleyes:

auscab
16th November 2014, 01:48 PM
It will kill the buzzer blades and stop working before your finished , same with a hand plane , same with sand paper. The only way is to strip the paint off first. Heat gun and scrape ,then a stripping soloution or dip it . or pay some one to strip it . A high pressure cleaner might take it off but they can chew up wood as well.

Fuzzie
16th November 2014, 04:54 PM
I've used an electric hand planer to skim off the paint layer. Mine is a cheapy and has those replaceable tungsten carbide blades. I bought a card of spares for replacements but so far I'm still on the originals and I've done a lot of metres of both hard and softwoods (Ironbark and Oregon).

Ando967
16th November 2014, 05:12 PM
Hmmm might go down the leccy plane road and maybe see how the belt sander goes, the joiners might be a bit when they go to use the buzzer again!

Sawdust Maker
16th November 2014, 05:14 PM
couple of goes with paint stripper then through the thicknesser

astrid
16th November 2014, 05:25 PM
I've never understood why people try to sand off paint? Go the paint stripper!!. you may find that's all it needs .

If this was old timber it was prolly painted straight over shellac and the paint wont have penetrated the grain. if you sand it off or use a thiknesser you'll probably make more work for yourself getting back a perfectly prepared surface. my 2c

soundman
16th November 2014, 11:50 PM
Apart from the wear and tear issues, my problem with the thichnesser is how much material you will loose.

If you don't mind the paint stripper, that is a go.

As for the belt sander........don't dis the belt sander.....a well tuned belt sander can be a very good thing capable of fine work......the problem is most people only see belt sanders used as butchery tools and don't know how to tune them.

Get the platten properly flat, a graphite slip cloth, a good quality belt and hooked up to dust extraction and they can do quite fine delicate work, an excelent choice for working on boards.

cheers

yowie
17th November 2014, 06:58 AM
I also use the Electric plane to remove paint and find hidden nails. Still on origional blades after about 5 years

Fuzzie
17th November 2014, 07:05 AM
I've never understood why people try to sand off paint? Go the paint stripper!!. you may find that's all it needs .


I think it is a matter of horses for courses. In my case I have used the planer on painted rough sawn timber that was going to be further resawn to get final material. It is also very quick.

I have always found paint stripper too messy and irritating on anything large. If I need to preserve size and final shape and am willing to invest the time, I have found stripping with a heat gun is easier. An electric heat gun will be less likely to burn but a gas gun is quicker.

Also if stripping I find it incredibly easier if I sharpen the scraper occasionally.

orraloon
17th November 2014, 10:53 AM
A hand held electric plane will do a good job of geting the paint off. Use some dust extraction and ware a mask. Look at the reverse side of the board to get an idea of where nails may be and punch out as required. The replacement blades are not too expensive but I have found they usually last for years. My electric plane is mostly used to clean up old timber.
Regards
John

Ando967
17th November 2014, 05:54 PM
Ran the first 3 up this arvo with the planer and it came up a treat, set it to about 0.5mm and gave it a nice slow pass, needed a follow up to remove some ingrained paint. Thanks for the tips all. I'm not a big fan of stripper after I restored and old captains chair with it, a few pieces of sand paper and two weeks of spare time! it has its place but I'd rather exhaust other options first!