Removing paint from wood: stripper or hot air?
It is not always possible to simply paint over the varnish on wooden furniture. The old paint may be peeling or you might want the natural beauty of the wood to show through. In this case, you need to remove the varnish, you have several options to do this.
To remove old varnish from wooden furniture, you can sand it off, strip it off or remove it with hot air. ribbons you should only do yourself if it is a small area. However, as soon as you want to take care of a larger piece, which has corners, edges or even If there is any decoration, you really only have two options for removing the paint: stripping or Hot air.
Removing paint by stripping: Great effort - good result
- The paint strippers that hobby restorers can buy in hardware stores are of course not quite as harsh as the chemicals available to a professional paint stripper stand. Nevertheless, they are corrosive enough to cause serious damage if they come into contact with the skin, and especially with the eyes. When removing paint with the help of paint strippers, you should at least wear protective gloves and goggles.
- The loosened paint is removed with a spatula and possibly a brush wood scraped and falls - mixed with the mostly jelly-like stripping - to the ground. Quite a mess!
- Depending on the effectiveness of the agent and the number of layers of paint, several passes are necessary. However, after careful stripping, the wood is completely freed from the paint.
- Wood that has been stained with the help of chemicals must then be washed off again and possibly neutralized. This can hardly be achieved with furniture in the home. In addition, wood that has come into contact with water becomes rough and therefore has to be sanded down again. All of these are laborious processes that can be worthwhile, provided you can work outside.
- However, if you do not have the option of stripping wooden furniture outside the home, then this method should not be used. You shouldn't work on a lawn either, as the chemical is corrosive and will definitely damage the lawn.
Stripping wood - this is how it works
Stripping wooden furniture, doors or windows is an excellent way to ...
Remove varnish from wood with hot air - you need a sure instinct
- A hot air dryer has nothing to do with a normal hair dryer and produces such high temperatures that the paint practically melts. It makes sense that you have to keep the hot air away from your fingers when you are working. Wearing gloves is also not really recommended, because the high temperatures cause plastics to melt quickly - with devastating consequences for the skin of your fingers.
- So a sure instinct is required - in the truest sense of the word. Because if you hold the hot air dryer on a wooden surface for too long, it will start to char. Dark spots are the result.
- The removal of paint with hot air therefore requires quick work. The soft varnish is scraped off the wooden surface with a spatula and falls to the floor. However, since the layer is extremely thin, it cools down immediately, becomes hard and can be easily swept up.
- A major health risk when removing paint using hot air is the vapors produced by the paint, which is quasi-boiling. Vapors containing solvents are toxic and should not be inhaled. A breathing mask helps against this, but you should not confuse it with the normal dust protection masks from the hardware store, because these do not protect you from vapors. Breathing masks are not quite as cheap, but are also available in hardware stores. Ask the professional for advice on choosing the right mask.
- You can best use the hot air method outdoors because of the fumes, or at least when it is wide open window work. When doing this, you should not hold your face too close to the workpiece. If you feel "weird" even in the beginning, you should stop working immediately!
- Since no aggressive chemicals are used when removing paint, you can process the exposed wood immediately. There is no need to neutralize or wash off. However, you will not be able to do without sanding entirely with this method, because there will still be some paint residues, especially in hard-to-reach areas.
If all the methods possible for domestic use are too laborious for you, you can take your wooden furniture to a professional liquor store. Unfortunately, this is the most expensive option.
