Removing finish on prefinished flooring

[Lloyd James]

I have some extra pieces of flooring that has a prefinish coating. I would like to use this wood for something.
I tried running it thru a planer, but it just skids and nothing comes off.
I tried using Savograns's Strypeeze stripper and the coating remains intact. I did use a short piece by hand sanding.
The sandpaper keeps clogs up quite a bit, and I get tire. Maybe my belt 6" wide belt sander would work, if I put in
a heavyier grade of sandpaper roll on.
I was just wondering if there is a stripper that would touch this coating.
Frustrated Andy. :confused:

[Jason Roehl]

Start with 60 grit paper, then progress upwards. If you find that clogging too quickly, switch to 40 grit and go up from there. (I've started with 24 grit on floors before...)

[Jim Matthews]

Sandvik/Bahco carbide scrapers (http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/bahco2-12carbidescraper.aspx) will take barnacles off boat bellies - they'll do this, easy-peasy.

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> I was just wondering if there is a stripper that would touch this coating.

Probably not that you can buy. Pre-finished flooring is coated with a "metalized" multi-step finish. It is basically designed to be impervious to almost all chemicals and abrasivion damage. The metal in the finish can very quickly damage your tooling whether hand or power.

You might want to contact the flooring manufacturer and see if they can help you.

[Steve Griffin]

I'm curious why the planer doesn't work. You say it just "skids and nothing comes off". I'm guessing you are setting it for a super shallow cut to save thickness, but I wonder if you took off a 1/64 or 1/32 if it wouldn't do the trick?

[keith micinski]

I agree with this. To light of a pass would cause this, that having been said it will probably destroy your knives either way and would not suggest using that tool. belt sander with a have 30-60 grit is the way to go.

[Peter Quinn]

I've run it through the planer with HSS knives, no problems. Not a lot of it mind you, but maybe 20-30LF. Pre-finished maple IIR in my case, for a friend. Unless its a lot of material, in retrospect, the best way to get the finish off is to place the boards in a dumpster, and go get some clean lumber, because for the work involved, I found little value in it considering the yield.

[Harlan Barnhart]

That finish probably has a top coat of aluminum oxide, also used in abrasives like sanding belts. It won't come off easily. Some types throw a little trail of sparks off a carbide blade, visible in while cutting in low light conditions.

[Keith Westfall]

I'm just asking 'cause I have no idea...

Could you resaw the top off?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Between the iron hard finishes used on prefinished flooring and the popularity of super hard woods,,,,,I'm really glad I'm old and going to die before a lot of these floors need refinished.....

The difference between sanding down a white oak and red oak floor was bad enough.
I shudder to think of what sanding down a Jatoba floor prefinished with some super tough coating would be like.

[Prashun Patel]

If the bottom side is unfinished, can you just use it upside down?

If you are planning to make a glued up panel out of it, you might just joint it, glue it up, and take it to a mill to have drum sanded.

Just throwing out other options to consider.