Best Stripper?

[Derek Arita]

I'm stripping the Japaning off of a plane. I'm using Clean Strip and it works, but I'm wondering if there's something better out there. Anyone have a better alternative stripper?

[Marc Seguin]

I've found methylene chloride to take almost any kind of paint/finish/glue off anything in seconds. It's very nasty stuff, but makes stripping finish effortless. It's not very good for the environment or living creatures of any kind though. Don't get it on your skin, and wear a respirator with organic vapour cartridges.

[allan kuntz]

With methylene chloride it is best if you can submerse it and put a cover on it because it evaporates real fast. You can pour it on a flat surface and watch it disappear. Any thick body stripper that has methylene chloride in it will work. Paint it on. Cover in plastic or if it fits put it in a plastic bag and squeeze out the air and let it work. You want to keep the fumes working. You can then put it in some kind of tub and with a brush wash it down with straight methanol. Same health issues. Straight methylene chloride is costly and not that easy to find.

[Doug Trembath]

I can't think of a reason you would need anything better than Kleen Strip, Derek. I have done a few larger planes with it in a spray can, and it takes japanning right off, leaving a pristine surface. It's what I always recommend. I once, in my younger days, operated a furniture stripping business, using commercial Methylene Chloride in 55 gallon drums. I did it for a while, but when I stopped, I told myself, and others, I would never use it again. Nasty stuff, not good for you. Kleen Strip just works, quickly and completely. Are you letting it sit for a while? I spray it on out on the back porch, and rinse it off with the garden hose. YMMV, I suppose...

Doug Trembath

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I bought an old bath tub, filled it with straight simple green to strip the engine on my Lincoln.

[george wilson]

When I was in my late teens,I worked some Summers at small furniture refinishing business. It was done out of doors in the yard of the owner. We used the old fashioned harsh stripper that would burn your skin if it got on you. It was poured into old concrete mixing tubs. We sloshed it on with 6" barn brushes.

Probably another reason I now have COPD !

[Kent A Bathurst]

Oooooops....wrong thread - by a mile.

I was going to suggest a couple clubs in Tampa...........

Never mind.

[Derek Arita]

Oooooops....wrong thread - by a mile.

I was going to suggest a couple clubs in Tampa...........

Never mind.
LOL!
Anyways, Kleen Strip does work and does get it down to the metal, however it does take three or four applications and a lot of scrubbing with a wire brush. I was just hoping there was something that might work better. I stripped all the window sashes in my old house and used a similar stripper, can't remember the name, and the paint really did bubble up and scrape off to bare wood, pretty easily. Different surface and different finish I know, but I was just wondering if I was using the preferred stripper. Thanks for the help.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Derek, I just stripped three japanned planes. Two of them stripped clean with Citri-Strip but it did not touch the third one. I had to use multiple applications of Klean-Strip to get it bare. Wrapping the item to be stripped in plastic wrap tight enough to remove most air bubbles seems to help tge stripping process. At the very least it prevents the stripped from "drying out" and keeps you from having to reapply stripped as often. I also found that adding a bit of heat by means of a hair dryer helped out as it was cooler outside when I was working and I wont use the Klean-Strip indoors. The real point of my reply, is that not all jappaned surfaces are the same and may require different approaches to clean.

[Bill Houghton]

Gypsy Rose Lee is a classic. "Best" is a personal judgment.

[David M Anderson]

I have a few restore's done.
Used to use Citristrip, but it proved noneffective on Sargent planes to a large degree.
Sargent japanning on planes where a little tougher to remove for some reason.
I do use now Klean-Strip on all my stripping. Should point out that I do clean the parts with brake cleaning before and after.

Klean-Strip is more caustic, so do wear proper gloves and eye and face protection will using any stripper.
Do not get caught up with the idea, "have not had a problem before".

Reason I use the brake cleaner is two fold, basically cleans all the oils and reside off leaving the stripper to do its job.
And cleaning the old paint and stripper off with no water, your part is basically ready to paint.

[Barney Markunas]

Methylene chloride is good for stripping many finishes but it is not good for you; hence the proliferation of alternatives. Don't assume you are protected just because you are using a respirator. Cartridge respirators do not protect against all airborne hazards and methylene chloride is one of the chemicals that experiences very rapid "break through". Do some research to confirm, but I think you will see that current recommendations are for some sort of air supplying respirator rather than a cartridge respirator when dealing with methylene chloride. Using the right tool for the job applies to health and safety just the same way as it does to your woodworking.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

I just tried electrolysis for the first time on a hand plane and it worked well. Took a long time for the japanning but it wasn't messy or insanely toxic or anything. If you have the patience to let it sit for a day or two then it's worth a shot.

[Derek Arita]

I've done electrolysis, but I didn't know where to pour the rusty waste...didn't want to stain the sinks. Also, it does take a day or two to get rid of the rust, however I didn't notice that it was particularly good at stripping the japanning.

[bridger berdel]

I have had good results removing japanning by wrapping the tool in a rag, putting it in a freezer grade ziplock bag, covering it with 50/50 paint thinner/alcohol and sealing it up for a few days. When it comes out, work it over with a stiff brush and dish detergent.

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

I may have missed it, won't be the first time I have missed something obvious, and some of you may have assumed that everyone reading this post knows this, but Klean Strip is mostly methylene chloride. It also contains methanol and a few other things.

Thus, any warning given above about methylene chloride applies to Klean Strip, and in addition methanol is darned toxic as well.


Stew

[Doug Trembath]

Agreed that Methylene Chloride is the active ingredient in Kleen Strip, along with something to create a gel which makes it stick to the object, and probably dozens of chemical modifiers and other stuff, as you say. I think the main difference, Stew, is a matter of degree, in the level of concentration.

Obviously I don't have the recipe, but you can tell a vast difference between spraying Kleen Strip from an aerosol can out of doors, and opening a container of Methylene Chloride. In one, you get a hint of noxious odor, in the latter you get a whiff that can take your breath away, make your nose run, eyes water and you smell and taste the chemical for days it seems. Protective measures for the publically available product, while valid and necessary, pale in significance when compared to the measures needed to handle the more concentrated and unadulterated product. As George and I indicated above, it's nasty.

Doug Trembath

[Stew Denton]

Doug,

Klean Stip is 70% to 85% methylene chloride, according to the manufacturers MSDS. The gel, among other things, is present to retard evaporation of the methylene chloride, which has a fairly rapid evaporation rate. That is why you don't smell it to the point that it practically rips your head off. That does not mean that it is not the the majority of the product. The gel also means that the methylene chloride stays put to work instead of evaporating away.

The lower evaporation rate does make it somewhat safer, because the concentration of the methylene chloride in the air is quite a bit lower than it would be if the gel was not present.

I have some that I bought recently to use for exactly the same purpose as the above, to strip off the Japanning on tools, primarily planes, that I am restoring. I haven't used it yet on any of the steel tools, but it is warm enough outside that I will use some on them pretty soon. I am not about to use it inside. In fact, you may have been one of the folks that recommended it when I put up a similar post, which is why I decided to go the Klean Strip route.

I have used pure methylene chloride, one of those things I have sometimes used because of the nature of my work. Not the volumes that you used, but really high purity stuff, so I know what you are saying, it is bad stuff for you.

Stew

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

I've done electrolysis, but I didn't know where to pour the rusty waste...didn't want to stain the sinks. Also, it does take a day or two to get rid of the rust, however I didn't notice that it was particularly good at stripping the japanning.

If it took that long just to get the rust off it sounds like you weren't generating enough amps. I had a tough time getting solid connections because my plane had some oil on it and both it and the anode (piece of steel) I used were rusty. Plus the wire I used to connect the anode to the positive jaw the first time was too thin and rusted away to almost nothing after one night. Once I figured out those issues I was generating about 5 amps as opposed to just 1 and the process sped up considerably. Japanning still took forever to remove but rust was virtually gone within a few hours.

Another factor that influences the effectiveness of electrolysis is the anode you use. I've just been using plain carbon steel as I've read that using stainless steel makes the solution/water toxic and playing around with the shape of the anode has made a big difference. From what I've read and figured out through experimenting the ideal setup should have an anode that completely surrounds the item you're trying to remove the rust from. So something like a piece of rebar bent into a circle. If the anode is just a solid piece and it's on one side of your rusted tool then the closest side will be cleaned much quicker.