Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Thursday, 2 October 2003

# 5 PM

notes on stripping paint

  1. The instructions on the side of the bottle of stripper read "Apply a thick coat." This is not merely an attempt to get you to consume more of their product.
  2. Stripping paint produces large volumes of sticky goo. It is wise to have a disposable container handy to put the goo in.
  3. Plastic scrapers don't work very well, which is a shame, because metal scrapers will scratch hell out of the wood, which has been softened by the stripper.
  4. Kneepads are a wonderful invention. Too bad I don't own any.
  5. Disposable nitrile gloves are also a wonderful invention. These I do have.
  6. Stripping paint from flat objects is merely tedious. Stripping paint from cylindrical objects is almost impossible.
  7. You're not going to get all the paint off, no matter how hard you try.

It will be a damn shame if this table turns out to be intrinsically hideous, not just covered in ugly blue paint.

I don't mind recommending Citristrip brand paint stripper. It works pretty well, and it's about as non-toxic as possible considering that paint stripper intrinsically has to contain vicious organic solvents. (Toxicity details -- for the spray can version, not the gel I'm using, but the active ingredients are the same.)