Paint removal

[Michael Weber]

Anyone have experience with one of the Bosch dual mode orbital sanders using the so called turbo mode? I’m stripping paint from doors, windows and flat trim back to the bare wood. Been using my little 5 inch Bosch ROS after hand scrapping. It works but is slow. The dual mode ones are pretty expensive but worth it to me if they do a faster job. Or, is there another tool for the same cost or less that would do the same or better job? I know there are really expensive tools with carbide or diamond teeth but not justifiable price wise. Thanks

[roger wiegand]

Paint removal by sanding has always seemed a pretty thankless task. I'd use a chemical stripper, then a light finish sander. The orange based stripper actually works decently of you smear it on cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit several hours or overnight. Not nearly as good as methylene chloride, but the it probably won't kill you.

I used to have one of the Bosch dual mode sanders. It was very aggressive in pure rotary mode, I almost never used it that way (t was aggressive enough in ROS mode). It also left big time swirls, especially with 60 or 80 grit paper. Unless you know you are lead free that big sander can create quite the toxic cloud in a hurry.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I stripped an historic home of three layers of paint. I used a heat gun and putty knife first. I custom ground a couple of shapes. Then methylene chloride and steel wool, those same putty knives and steel wool. Then a sander.

[Paul F Franklin]

A buddy of mine did his old house using the metabo paint stripper and he loved it and said it was way faster than anything else he tried. Not that much more expensive than a decent sander.

[Michael Weber]

A buddy of mine did his old house using the metabo paint stripper and he loved it and said it was way faster than anything else he tried. Not that much more expensive than a decent sander.

thanks for that info. Did some research on it. Has some weak points in the reviews but still might be a future purchase.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

I've used an infrared paint remover to take 125 years of lead based paint off my exterior trim. Expensive but it works great. Heat a 5" x 12" area and remove everything with a putty knife, usually in one pass. Sand lightly (obviously take precautions with lead) and prime.

[Lisa Starr]

I've used gallons of Soy-Gel to strip lots of trim in our historic home. Messy, slow, by very effective. Rinse with water after removing the paint, quick sand and you're ready to move on.