removing fence stain from pine

Hi folks, I bought a heap of pine floor boards dirt cheap that were incorrectly installed then were pulled up, they are coated in polyurethane on one side, after removal they then found a new life as a fence for a very short time, they acquired a coat of el cheapo fence stain in this short interim period,

my question's are these, what is the easiest way to remove the poly?, heat, stripper, metho and steel wool??? scraper?, and can I blow the cheap fence stain off with a 2,600 PSI water blaster, I really dont want to run them through the thicknesser as I would have to do both sides losing a minimum 1-2 mm each side would render them next to useless, currently they are 3.9m long and 19mm, 2mm off each side would reduce them to 15mm, they are in new condition and well worth salvaging, "hep me", "hep me", my darling daughter in law wants a new unit for her new 50" plasma telly! and I got's to build it! ah the joy's of parent hood!

Poly cr*p stuff to remove IMO - sorry you would save yourself a heap of trouble by either sanding with heavy grit or giving em a light pass each side through the thicknesser one pass each side would p[robably do then attack em with the sander to remove the missed bits.

I machined up a heap of baltic pine boards for my kitchen, seeming they'd been sanded and coated twice the thickest was about 18mm so I machined them down too 11mm and laminated them up too 22mm and went from there.

yeah! I tried a few things and spat the dummy, took a mill off each side and they actually come up a treat, 17mm isn't too bad!

You could also give them to a machine shop and have them put them through the drum sander..
This will effectively remove the poly and only require very light orbital sanding to finish.. (No machine marks)

I got a builder mate who I see regular (sharpening his gear for mates rates) he has a drum sander, I said to him about putting the timber through his, he reckons it would clog up the paper! doesn't matter, I stood out in the shed yesterday in between jobs and put roughly two cubes of timber through the thicknesser twice, once for each side, pain in the bum but what are parents for, would have been a lot easier on me to just go and buy a heap, but I figure two cubes of pinus radiasol for $20 isn't too bad, just a few nail holes, 6" wide and the shortest piece was 3.9m long! now I gotta find time to make this damnable floor unit thingy! that's if I want to keep seeing my grandkids

Good Morning Dave

I regularly use a Karcher high pressure hose - forgot the pressure it works at. Paint is generally harder than wood, especially soft pines, so if it removes paint it will also cannibalise the wood. Not nice unless you want a real rustic finish.

Polyurethane is pretty tough, so if it was in real good condition before the fence paint was done, it might be feasible to remove this coat of fence paint with very careful hosing. Try a test.

If your mate will not come to the party with the drum sander, then a good size ROS would probably do the job. Just buy heaps of discs!

I use a lot of salvaged timber and for a big batch I sometimes hire a drum sander to do this job.

Good luck

Cheers

Graeme

Paint stripper?

G'day Graeme, yep I thought that about damage to the boards as well, but the fence paint really isn't like normal paint it's more of a stain, very watery to put on and doesn't have a gloss, sanding I thought was out of the question, my back is bad enough as it is, paint stripper oh gawd the mess.......I have a high pressure unit that runs up to 3200 but I run it at 2600 psi, I just couldn't be bothered to try it, and besides the thicknesser wasn't doing much!, seemed the easier option, I had a win this morning the timber was actually 20 mm and I took 1 mm off each side leaving 18 mm in total, it came up like new, I will start this thing possibly next week, I just had to resharpen my blades this morning, I have another wall unit that I have to deliver today then I can start on this one!

Sounds good, Dave.

I have two sets of blades for my thicknesser. One set is reserved especially for salvaged timber - grit & paint is almost as damaging as nails.

Cheers

Graeme

yep I'm the same with the two sets but this gear is basically brand new, no dirt or staples just the stain and the poly, came up like a bought lot! my DIL has taken her measurements, I have delivered the wall unit so all is go for after the long weekend!