[Woodcarver] Stripping

[RP]

Cliff:

     There are many good strippers out there nowadays and many of them 
are friendly to the environment, but if this is a carving with allot of 
fine detail you need to be very careful choosing what tools you will use 
to remove the paint once the stripper has loosened it.

     Since the stripper will most likely dampen the wood any sharp 
detail can be knocked down or completely away by sharp scrapers and 
stiff wire brushes. Even a power washer will destroy a beautiful carving 
if the pressure is to high.

     It takes a long time to strip a carving or any woodwork with fine 
detail like I am talking about. I apply the first coat of stripper by 
the directions and give it plenty of time to work then wash it off with 
a just a hose, no power washer. Once I have all of it off that way I 
take my small dental picks and try to remove any softened paint from the 
details. Then I let the piece dry completely so that the wood does not 
get moisture so deep and soften it so much that just moving it around 
destroys the detail. sometimes I wait a week or more between stripping 
sessions.

     Repeat until you have it completely stripped, the biggest thing is 
patience if you want the piece to retain its look. You might also look 
for a professional restorer in your area, many have tanks with more 
caustic type strippers that can do the job faster and still retain the 
detail.

     Just my $.02 to try and save all the work that went into the piece.

RP

On 3/23/2012 5:23 PM, Clifford Page wrote:

> Forgive me, I have not been here in a number of years.  Can anyone 

> tell me where to find information on stripping paint, layer by layer 

> from a painted wooden animal?

>

> -- 

> Cliff and Avril: carvingnutster at gmail.com 

> <mailto:carvingnutster at gmail.com>, and carvingnut at comcast.net 

> <mailto:carvingnut at comcast.net>



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