South Stuy Blog
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February 12, 2008
Strip Happy
We can't do very much else until we get the first round of drawings from our newly hired architect, so we are tackling the ornate wooden columns in what will one day be our guestroom/office.
An ambitious project indeed, but weghaddado wha weghaddado.
We are currently using Citrus Strip on the column. We have found that the trick is to paint on the thickest coating of the stuff as possible, wrap the thing with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out, and let it do its work over a 24- to 36-hour period. We then get to scraping using sharp pull scrapers (we bought them through the Silent Paint Stripper site). If the paint doesn't come off, we no longer fight it or curse at it like we did when we first began learning how to strip--we just throw on another coat.
Look at all these lovely colors--sort of psychedelic, man
We needed to repeat the process 3 times for this result.
We have no idea what kind of wood this is or why some of it is light and some dark--if anyone has some insight, let us know. We plan on staining this woodwork at some point in the future so if anyone would like to post some pointers, we would appreciate it.
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Comments
Can't wait to see what those columns look like without paint, especially that gloopy capital.
Posted by: guest at February 13, 2008 1:13 PM
If the wood doesn't match, it's likely different cuts of pine and was meant to be painted.
Staining might not look so great--all the wood variations will show through.
Personally, I'd re-paint. You'll get a really nice finish having stripped the wood first.
Posted by: tinarina at February 13, 2008 1:15 PM
You're bringing back aggravating memories of stripping for me. The horror!
If the wood is different colors, it may be that some of the wood grain is getting discolored by the stripper (or something else that has been done in the past). Or it could be that it paint grade all along.
Not that you asked for an opinion but I got to agree with tina on this one. It would look great painted. Now that you have all the globs of paint off, the detail will be really beautiful.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at February 13, 2008 3:20 PM
I'm about to engage in a very similar column stripping project. Debating between Ready Strip and Peel Away 7. Not as non-toxic as citru, but I hear they work better? Any thoughts?
Posted by: guest at February 13, 2008 5:21 PM
5:21-As between the 2 --Go with Peel Away 7 just make sure you put on a heavy coat and don't let it dry out (although I believe Citrus strip is also non-toxic--I know its at least non-burning :)).
Mrs.L and Tinarina--we are going to do everything we can not to put more paint on this wood. The grain is actually quite nice and we think it will look great with a dark stain on it. Also it is not likely that the pillar was made out of different cuts of wood as it appears to be dolid and seamless. Our best guess is that there was a stain on it at one time which is why it is slightly discolored. we plan on slathering it with another coat of stripper to find out for sure.
Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at February 13, 2008 7:02 PM
When you get down to bare wood, try rubbing it with denatured alcohol to see if there's any shellac on it. If shellac was the original finish, you could go with orange/amber/garnet shellac instead of stain. Shellac is easy to work with if you mix your own from flake and has the benefit of being easy to repair.
Also, just eyeballing the wood, it looks like oak to me; it has a lot of variation.
If so, it will take a stain or shellac quite nicely. Unless the wood is really bad (or you can be sure it's a softwood), I wouldn't paint it.
Posted by: guest at February 13, 2008 8:52 PM
Soy Gel this stuff is amazing, you would not believe how well it works. It's not cheap but you do not have to use as many coats and takes less time...
Posted by: Absolute Beginner at February 14, 2008 2:37 PM
It looks like some poplar we bought recently. Some parts light (like maple) but with green, black or even sometimes purple streaks. I don't know what it would look like at the age of your columns, but it stained a darker color quite nicely and looks a lot more even.
Posted by: Heatherie at February 15, 2008 1:52 PM
It looks like pine to me. It should strip down to bare wood and take a stain really well. I vote for staining over painting but that's just my taste. I love the look of natural wood. I wood consider using gel stains. Gel stains provide richer color and better coverage than the old fashion penetrating stains. If you're interested in seeing an example of what I'm talking about, you can check out my website under my user profile. Under carpentry, you will see some gel stain projects that made a great match to the original molding. Since I've been using gel stains I've stopped using those thin penetrating stains like Minwax.
Posted by: Rick at February 16, 2008 8:33 AM
I stripped the all the Oak on the ground floor of my house.
Striping is time consuming and a labor of love, but the finished product is well worth it. Tools: you will need a roll of toilet tissue and medium coarse #2 steel wool, small dull scraper and dentist tools for the fine crevices. I use any thick paste type stripper, never the liquid. When stripping indoors you need to be very careful, open windows, turn off kitchen gas pilots, use a fan to help ventilate the room and wear a mask and eye goggles. I wear two pairs of the doctors surgical gloves (cost 3 cents each glove).
All the wood I stripped first with a heat gun, (not recommended for the inexperienced you can easily burn your house down!)
Stripper is applied on any vertical or horizontal item in an even thick coat.
Let sit for about 5 minutes, use a small blunt scraper and gently nudge the finish, if it comes off easily your job will be much easier. If its just starting to soften try waiting another 5-10 minutes, scrape off the paint and repeat the first step until your down to the wood. Just as the wood starts to appear from the stripper I use a small piece of steel wool just after using the scraper. The steel wool removes all traces of the paint and stripper without marring the surface, no sanding is needed.
Just repeat these simple steps till all of the paint has been removed. On oak you should be careful and only go with the grain when using the steel wool as it can easily catch the grain.
Write me if you would like to see before and after photo's bgross1065@aol.com
Posted by: guest at February 16, 2008 11:49 AM
Good for you. I applaud your efforts in removing the paint. I recently stripped a pine door in my house that was painted 3 colors. I was told it is from the 1930's. A kind gentleman at an antique shop helped me out tremendously. His name is Yehia pronounced (YaYa) he has been doing restoration work for 27years and new what the best products were and basic techniques. He is located in Crown Heights 74 Kingston Ave 11216. 347.698.6252. He was able to help me to do projects independently with just some basic consulting. He's quite talented. I learned that after stripping my door it was a combo of colors due to various pieces of wood but I sripped it, sanded with first sand paper of various coarsness and then dry wool I then stained it Golden Oak...and shellac(ed) it came out great!
Posted by: CC at February 17, 2008 12:41 AM
Thanks for all these extremely useful tips!
Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at February 18, 2008 9:48 AM
Your wood looks like poplar (I'd bet money on it). Something to be careful of, I'm thinking that there's a good chance that the capital on your column is composition. A lot of old woodwork was made to be painted and the very ornate pieces were often a wood core with come type of composition material making up the carvings. Everyone assumes that old woodwork was always carved, but I've found plenty of pieces from the 1800's with composition details. Use a dental pick when you start to strip the top and if you find that it's sinking in a little too easily and too deeply, then that's probably what you have.
Poplar itself does not take stain very well either, it tends to blotch, so you might be looking at a paint job, which can be disapointing after all that work stripping. I hope I'm wrong, but...
Please keep posting so we know what happens.
Posted by: guest at February 22, 2008 9:23 PM
Good news the capital of the column is NOT composition (9:23 -you had me worried)--it is def wood. The details are even lovelier than I thought yet a devil to strip. Any pointers for stripping the intricate stuff?
Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at February 25, 2008 7:38 AM
Well, I'm glad to see that I was wrong in the case. It's a real pain to get that far and run into composition. For the detailed parts, you might want to go with one of the really nasty chemical removers. I know that you've avoided using them so far, but on the real detailed stuff, you want to put on as few coats as possible because each time you take it off, you're going to end up taking some of the wood as well due to the cross graining situation. Any of the heavy duty strippers will work, but since the main active ingredient in most of them is methylene chloride, you want to get the one with the most methylene chloride. They usually don't give actual percentages, but Methylene chloride is heavy, so usually the heaviest can in the size you are looking for will have the highest amount of methylene chloride, which in turn means that it will work the best. The gels tend to work a bit slower, but stay in place longer for vertical surfaces, so that's a trade off. Methylene chloride also evaporates very easily, (that's why they use it in those stupid drinking birds that swing back and forth that you always used to see, but that's another story)so cover it and it will work better. Don't use neophrene gloves, it will eat through them, make sure you pick up a pair of chemical resistant gloves. Good luck and happy stripping.
Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 10:18 PM
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