Stripping Painted totes from hand planes?

[steven c newman]

I HATe handles that have been painted. Will strip all the paint off. Right now have a Mohawk-shelburne/Millers falls #900 with them BLACK hardwood handles. Stripper wheel in the drill press got most of the black off, but, there was a gray primer coat under that...


About 90%% is cleaned off, and will need a new stripper wheel. Wore the other one out. Looking for a better way to get rid of the paint, without doing the chemical route..


Might even work on that THICK red finish M-F used on their other, "better" planes...

[David Weaver]

make yourself an easily sharpened shop knife or scraper, sharpen it to about a medium or fine india (something quick) and use it to scrape off the paint that way. Then you can sand the bare wood to remove the scrape marks.

[ray hampton]

If you are dealing with water-based paint, will hot water remove much of it

[steven c newman]

Somehow, I don't think Millers Falls used that kind of paint of their handles..


A "Before"265922after ?265923It has a spare tote, for now. Still working on the "original" tote. Plane in front is a Stanley Defiance #4, with it's original handles. At least the paint was easier to remove from that set..265924Look a little better?

[Adam Cruea]

I'm with you, Steve. I hate it when people paint the handles (honestly, I hate *anything* on the handle, even varnish/lacquer/shellac).

The only way I found to get it off decently was to use sandpaper, a mask, and then buff the handle on a soft wheel to restore the original wood's luster.

[ray hampton]

I'm with you, Steve. I hate it when people paint the handles (honestly, I hate *anything* on the handle, even varnish/lacquer/shellac).

The only way I found to get it off decently was to use sandpaper, a mask, and then buff the handle on a soft wheel to restore the original wood's luster.

Can you buy hammers or axes without a coat of paint on the handles ?

[Adam Cruea]

As far as I know, yeah. Shovels, pickaxes, picks. . .I've seen them with plain old hickory handles without anything that looked like a finish.

[steven c newman]

Ok, here tis the Non-painted tote, with a single coat of that smelly BLO 265960Knobs are easy to clean off, I just spin them in the drill press. Totes are a different thing to try. Wire wheel to scrounge most of the black top coat, and the gray Primer under it. Stripper wheel and a sander were used too. Might have the iron almost sharp, too....This is one very "fussy" plane to set right. Loaner chip breaker, the one that came with the plane is JUNK. needs to be rebent, only a small bit of corner touches the iron.