how to remove paint from checkered furniture? II
Mauser-central, I have been refinishing and making stocks for the last 32 years, believe me when I tell you that easy-off and water will screw up a nice stock. Yes muffinman, I have used it too, but only on old military stocks that were soaked in oil. Lacquer thinner still works better! It does work good on crusty auto parts, but wait till the wife is gone before you do that in her oven!
M-C, I strip a stock using lacquer thinner and 0000 steel wool, sometimes substituting acetone for the thinner depending on the finish. Use industrial rubber gloves if you like the skin on your hands. Use a shallow metal pan with something non absorbent in the middle to set the butt of the stock on to keep it out of the thinner.. Pour about an inch deep with thinner, soak the S/W pad and scrub from top to bottom with the grain. This way you can take off the old finish, and with practice you have enough control on the stripping process to leave the original stain. As far as checkering, use a toothbrush dipped in the thinner, several brands may have to be tried before you find one that doesn't melt!
This is a good time to get rid of dents and dings too. Let the stock air dry. For quarter size dings, take a 1/4 of a paper towel, soak it in water, squeeze it out, lay it on the ding, and apply the tip of your wife's steam iron with the steam hole directly over the towel and give it a blast and hold it down hard for 30seconds. Cover the surrounding area with a dry, thick cotton towel to prevent the steam from raising hairs on the rest of the stock. Quickly remove the paper and cotton towels. Repeat if it doesn't come all the way out. This only works on compression dents, where the fibers have been compressed and not broken.
"Aim small...Miss small"
M-C, I strip a stock using lacquer thinner and 0000 steel wool, sometimes substituting acetone for the thinner depending on the finish. Use industrial rubber gloves if you like the skin on your hands. Use a shallow metal pan with something non absorbent in the middle to set the butt of the stock on to keep it out of the thinner.. Pour about an inch deep with thinner, soak the S/W pad and scrub from top to bottom with the grain. This way you can take off the old finish, and with practice you have enough control on the stripping process to leave the original stain. As far as checkering, use a toothbrush dipped in the thinner, several brands may have to be tried before you find one that doesn't melt!
This is a good time to get rid of dents and dings too. Let the stock air dry. For quarter size dings, take a 1/4 of a paper towel, soak it in water, squeeze it out, lay it on the ding, and apply the tip of your wife's steam iron with the steam hole directly over the towel and give it a blast and hold it down hard for 30seconds. Cover the surrounding area with a dry, thick cotton towel to prevent the steam from raising hairs on the rest of the stock. Quickly remove the paper and cotton towels. Repeat if it doesn't come all the way out. This only works on compression dents, where the fibers have been compressed and not broken.
"Aim small...Miss small"
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Good post Trap...I do sneak in a little stripper on the tougher finishes[8D]
Love them Pre-64's!!!!-Bob0 -
Hangfire, A friend of mine brought a Baikal SxS over to have me change the buttstock. He wanted the old one refinished for a spare. I "soaked" as in "submerged" it overnight in acetone after the lacquer thinner had no effect. After two days it got just soft enough to allow me to scrape it off with a planer blade! Before that he laid a lit cigarette on it and it never left a mark! I sent a letter to Baikal asking what they used, but never got a response. Must be a Russian secret.[;)]
"Aim small...Miss small"0 -
quote:Originally posted by TRAP55
Mauser-central, I have been refinishing and making stocks for the last 32 years, believe me when I tell you that easy-off and water will screw up a nice stock. Yes muffinman, I have used it too, but only on old military stocks that were soaked in oil.
I thought Wood was wood. Is there something special about Uncle Sams wood? I also use a damp rag with water to remove dings. The wood has a percentage of water in it all the time or it would crack all over.
You keep saying Easy-Off will "ruin wood stocks" but I have yet to see One ruined over the last 20 years from it. I must be doing something correct that acccounts for it.0 -
You know Trap, some of these catylized lacquer and epoxy finishes are almost bullet proof. I've had to use marine and aircraft paint remover to just get them to soften!!!I'm glad I don't do this much anymore....You be sure and tell Catherine not to get into this end of the gunworld.It'll play hell with her nails[8D][8D]
Love them Pre-64's!!!!-Bob0 -
MuffinMan, Easy-off is a caustic solution, like acid. It eats away the wood fibers, making for more sanding if nothing else. I tried it on some badly oil soaked military stocks, but found that lacquer thinner had much better results. All stocks are "cured" before they are shaped. This is a controlled drying process. You are correct that wood contains water, thus the need for the curing process. Wood fibers under a microscope look like straw tubes bonded together, when they soak up water they expand, separate, and curl. The density of the wood grain determines the amount of swell. I don't doubt that E/O works for you, but you are just making more work to do after you clean it off. I've been lucky enough to have learned some forgotton processes from some old timers that have some stunning results.
When I can find the time, I'm trying to compile some of it with digital pics. The hard part is tracking down all the best work I've done for other people, but when I do I'll post it here and share what I've learned over the years. One old guy showed me a way to make maple stocks look like they have gold leaf in them, I hope to have some pics of that soon.
Please don't take offense from my posts, no critizism intended, just trying to tell you an easier way to do it with better results. BTW...Never use E/O on a high grade English Walnut stock, I got lucky on the damage control, almost cost me $3k!!!
"Aim small...Miss small"0
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