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Quiggers
1st May 2007, 03:40 PM
Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help me with this...

I have a bookcase which is fairly tall. It has been stained dark brown and later painted white. I would like to get it back to bare timber. Any suggestions as to how to make this job a bit easier?

I've used 'normal?' paint stipper in the past with little success...

(I suspect the timber is a pine variety).

Thanks for you help.

Cheers, GQ

Phoenix
1st May 2007, 03:43 PM
If its been stained, you are unlikely to get back to "Bare" wood of the original colour as the stain soaks into the wood.

If you want to get the paint off there are a couple of options, pain strippers, burn the paint off with a suitable propane burner or get it dipped by a professional company, which isn't as espensive as you might imagine.

FenianEel
1st May 2007, 03:48 PM
Tough sander, heat gun and paint stripper and scraper

A good heat gun will make the job a lot easier Quiggers.
Is the paint in "chunks or flakes", is completely covering the wood, or has it got 'into' parts of the timber?

stocky
1st May 2007, 04:49 PM
Get it dipped. Its the only way. To many internal angles to sand or strip by hand.

Disco300Tdi
1st May 2007, 04:57 PM
Hi Quiggers,,,If you can disassemble the bookcase, purchase a cheap (GMC) belt sander. you can buy the variety pack of belts starting at 60pp up to 240pp. It allways looks better when its down by yourself.:)

spudboy
1st May 2007, 05:54 PM
If it's stained you will have to sand off way too much timber to get back to natural wood colour, and it will probably be blotchy at the end. Sure you don't want to just paint it a different colour?

Quiggers
2nd May 2007, 08:07 AM
I must be very ignorant to woodworking skills, what's dipping? I assume this is where it's dropped into a bath of something which will remove paint, yes?

It doesn't come apart, and I did consider repainting it.

I know the old stain is in the wood, but blotchyness and a new stain (lighter) to cover the bald patches may give it the 'stressed' look. The old white paint is a light undercoat.

Or when I've had enough:twisted: gloss white will do:D

Thanks for remindeing me I have a propane nozzle somewhere which is for this purpose, just gotta find it:eek:

Thanks guys!

GQ

kaa45
2nd May 2007, 08:24 AM
Hi Quiggers,
Dipping is using a bath of caustic soda to remove the paint and dirt, you could also try bleaching the stained wood (never had much luck..very patchy results).
But if you want a distressed or aged look, maybe worth a try.
Rather you than me,
Danny

JohnE
2nd May 2007, 09:33 AM
the things you get up to when your bored,
if the bookcase is pine and has been stained ( under the paint) you'll have a tough time removing it.
As far as i know there are no caustic dippers around here, there are a heap in sydney that i know of.
Your best bet would be too paint stripper it, spray or the brush on variety, take your time and get off all the paint. if you put enough stripper on it may, i say may, lighten/bleach the stain.
when you get back to the stained timber, if the colour isn't too bad looking, ie distressed, just give it a coat of satin estapol or variant.

if you don;t like the colour, but it is a light shade and you want it darker, you can buy and estapol type prestained finish, the colour is in the finish.
that wall unit thingy next to the kitchen at my place is done that way, so is the dresser in the hall way.
Its the cheats way but works well.

john

Quiggers
2nd May 2007, 09:41 AM
Not bored John, just another job that has to be done, that bookcase has been in the shed for years and years, storing all the fluidy stuff we collect to maintain cars, paint houses etc....

...now its needed to be a stand for kids stuff, like homework, textbooks and other stuff from school... it'll be home for all their day to day paperwork and they get heaps of it!

the things I do....

GQ

LeighW
2nd May 2007, 09:58 AM
Quiggers, if you do remove the existing paint, and you are not satisfied with the look of the previous stain, then the only way to restain it will be with a darker stain. This will go towards hiding any possible blotchiness (light patches) of the old stain after paint removal.

Leigh

Quiggers
2nd May 2007, 02:01 PM
It might give it a light spray of oil 'n' juice;) and set fire to it:twisted:

That'd be a real good stressed look!

Then rub it back (with a HP hose:D ) and see what it looks like....

Thank you all, I may put up a before and after pic...

Cheers, GQ

numpty
2nd May 2007, 07:02 PM
I've used caustic soda (buy it in supermarket) mixed in water as a stripper, then hose off, then lots of sanding. Has managed to remove some very ordinary finishes in the past. Trick is to make sure you've removed all the caustic otherwise it will bleed through the final finish.

abaddonxi
2nd May 2007, 07:11 PM
I've used caustic soda (buy it in supermarket) mixed in water as a stripper, then hose off, then lots of sanding. Has managed to remove some very ordinary finishes in the past. Trick is to make sure you've removed all the caustic otherwise it will bleed through the final finish.

I think caustic soda is what most of the stripping bath places use. If you go that way get a heap of cheap white vinegar and soak the whole shelf with it after you've done the stripping bit. This neutralises the caustic. Do this more times than you think you should.

Cheers
Simon

(http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Remote-Keyless-Entry-Central-Door-Locking-CDL-5kg-force_W0QQitemZ250109692869QQihZ015QQcategoryZ3125 0QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Pedro_The_Swift
30th May 2007, 09:34 AM
Pics GQ Pics!!!!
:D:D

100I
30th May 2007, 10:05 AM
If it's water-based, methylated spirits will remove it.

We sanded back 1/4 of our house before we discovered this:(.

Quiggers
30th May 2007, 12:25 PM
Thank you all, the heat gun is having some success, chemicals are not really doing the job...just a long tedious job...

GQ