Reading about Paul Hirsch’s discovery that joint compound will remove wallpaper paste reminded me of the time back in 1960 when I made a similar discovery. I was a struggling jack-of-all-trades down in Florida, and I’d take any job to survive. One dubious endeavor was to strip the paint off a pair of church doors. They were 4 ft. wide, 9 ft. tall and made of 4-in. thick cypress. They were deeply carved on both sides with the faces of saints, and the paint job probably went back to Ponce deLeon.
One night while fighting a deadline, I ran out of steel wool and rags. In desperation I flooded one of the panels with paint stripper and let it soak for a few minutes. Then I spread out a 1-in. thick layer of sawdust and worked it across the panels and into the crevices with a scrub brush. The results were amazing. The sawdust absorbed the paint, speeding the job fourfold.
I use a bristle or brass brush on woodwork or antiques — a steel wire brush will ruin a nice piece of wood. I prefer the runny types of paint stripper (they’re cheaper too). If the brush starts to plug up, throw on more sawdust. I’ve used this method to strip picture frames, fancy baseboards, trim and carved furniture, all with good results.
Clyde R. Kennedy, Rushville, OH
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Brilliant! sounds like it should be common knowledge. It is so simple, obviously effective and a good use for a material that usually gets tossed out in some manner
I like this! Springing from this idea, I wonder if strips or sheets of newspaper/butcher paper would accomplish the same thing. Peel-Away (non-solvent based stripper) uses this idea w/ their products, which need to stay in contact w/ the chemicals for 24 hrs.
Of course, the stripper manufacturers would never want us to discover that this encapsulation would slow their products' evaporation, and thereby increase its effectiveness because we would use less product....
Fortunately, I haven't had a stripping job in years ... and hopefully it will be years before the next once comes along, so I haven't tested this idea yet.
I'll have to try that on something that can be set horizontal to strip.
Do you have any ideas for stripping varnish from all the walls and ceilings of a 5 room cabin? They are knotty cedar with the original varnish from the 50's (what ever they commonly used back then). The cedar is naturally darker than knotty pine which was also common then. And I think the varnish has darkened with age too. The place is so dark inside. I want to lighten up the interior without painting the wood. My thought is to do a very light stain or whitewash so that the grain and knots are still visible. I figure I will have to strip the varnish because it is a gloss finish. I would appreciate any advice!