Use a planer to strip paint???

[Fred Childs]

:eek: I am working on a room with really old window and door casing that has stain, varnish, oil based lead paint, latex and who knows what else stacked to the point is doesn’t look that great. The casing isn’t standard size and is about 100 years old. I wouldn’t mind saving it if possible. I’m not impressed with strippers so far. I was thinking about removing the casing and running it thru my delta 13” planner.

Anyone ever tried this? If so does it trash the blades? Why do I have the feeling this is a bad idea?


Otherwise it's back to the stripper or off to buy a lot of wood.


Thanks

[Daniel Thompson]

I think it's likely to ruin the blades and you run the risk of getting lead dust in the air from the paint. Have you tried a heat gun?

[Bryan Berguson]

I've done this before but not with lead based paint. It didn't hurt my knives at all. If you're worried about the dust, you could always do it outside.

Bryan

[Robert Parrish]

It is a bad idea! You will not know were the nails or defects are unless you have a metal detector. A drum sander is the best way to do this if you have one, if not try a belt sander. The paint will also dull your knives.

[Dewey Torres]

I will reiterate all above...

Bad idea unless you want to buy new blades and they are not cheap!

[Sonny Edmonds]

I've actually done this before, Fred. I did a mantle by planing it down to fresh wood.
The trick is to make the pass deep enough to actually be lifting the wood under the coatings. Otherwise the paint melts and fouls your planer blades instantly, or really fast.
You will be ruining your blades to some extent, count on that.
If you have a way of easily resharpening them, all the better. (I do, so I wasn't afraid to actually try it and learn how to do it.)
When you remove the casings, pull the nails through from the back side. Then you can reuse the wood in most cases.
But you are going to reduce the wood by some amount.
If this is a restoration, the tried and true method of old elbow grease and strippers is your right way to go. :)

[Steve Clardy]

I do it when necessary.

I try to wait till my blades are ready to change out, then run it.

Just an hour ago, it was time.
I ran some old heart pine trim that I salvaged out of our old farm house.
Covered with some kind of old varnish and paint.

I'm making some interior trim out of it.

Blades are ready to change now.

[Terry Teadtke]

I fully restored my Craftsman style home several years ago which included stripping several coats of paint off all the painted woodwork in the house to expose the gorgeous old growth fir. I carefully removed all the pieces including baseboards, door trim, window trim, crown molding, etc. and numbered each piece so I knew where it went when I was ready to reinstall. I then removed every nail I could find using pliers to pull the nails through the back of each board. Once I de-nailed everything I ran every flat piece through my Delta lunch box planer removing the paint to the bare wood. As careful as I was to make sure I removed every nail I could find, I still missed a few. I think I went through 3 sets of blades stripping about a 1,000 feet of woodwork but felt it was still a cheap and easy way to go. Lead based paint? Probably. But then again I didn';t have to fool with hundreds of dollars worth of nasty chemical strippers either. If I had to strip woodwork again I would use the planer in a heartbeat. Just make sure you pull any nails through the back of the board rather than trying to remove them through the finished side.

Terry

[Joe Von Kaenel]

Fred,

I've never done stripping with my planer. I have had good success with my drum sander and hand held belt sanders. Wearing a respirator and running my air filtration. Best of luck.


Joe

[Fred Childs]

Thanks for all the insight. Based on what I have leaned so far I will try another stripper today before resorting to the planner, tempting as that is. I tried some test spots yesterday with "Soy Gel" and it seems I will need to apply 3 coats, one for the latex, one for the oil based layer and one for the varnish. If I were dealing with more material I would sacrifice a set of blades and keep a close eye out for nails.

[Paul Demetropoulos]

If you know there is lead based paint, and you do, no way you should even contemplate using a planer, even outside. You'll be spraying lead chips all over the place, contaminating the your clothes and the ground around. You won't be putting just yourself at risk. Would there be children playing in the area later, or pets? Lead is a serious toxic risk not to be taken lightly.

I've worked on a lot of old houses and I know it's a major pain dealing with lead paint and the temptation to ignore dealing safely with it is great. It's always costly and time consuming. There have been many times when I just rip out the lead coated item and replace replace with new. When that's not possible, well you've gotta bite the bullet and do proper remediation.

[Paul Atkins]

I agree with Sonny about the thickness of the cut. I've dulled the blades on my electric hand planer almost instantly on the bottom doors etc. The jointer has seen a few grooves from paint too. The main culprit is the oxides in the paint used for color and body. (What is aluminum oxide used for?) --- This is for all paint, not just lead based. I use a heat gun when I can and scrape or use paint remover next so most of the paint is gone before I use the chemicals. I just hate to re-sharpen 20" planer blades.