Reswing Wide Board question

[Brian Siano]

I have a lot of chestnut trim in my house, and the baseboards are 8-12" high. And it's all coated with thick white paint.

While I could take the trim down and strip the paint, I'm wondering if it'd be possible to do the following:

a) remove the trim, b) saw off maybe 1/16" to remove the painted face, and maybe c) resaw it thinner, and thus double the amount of chestnut "face" I can use.

I'm assuming the trim is 3/4" thick. I'm pretty sure it is.

Now, this seems as though it'd take a really big bandsaw, which I don't have, and I'm not sure I can rent. Are there other methods by which one could resaw an 8"-12" board even thinner, that are cheaper, or even manual?

[bridger]

cool....

you have my sympathies.

this is your best option.

it is "possible", yes.

this is pretty thin to be resawing from. assuming everything goes perfectly you might get two 1/4" pieces.

of course there are. bandsaws haven't been around since the beginning of time (though they have been around for a pretty long time) and people have been cutting boards in half the hard way for as long as they have been cutting boards in half. do a search for "bowsaw" and read up on it. then get some paint stripper and get that paint off of your trim.

[BobS]

Brian,

May want to do a test and see if that is lead based paint. Kits are available at the borgs.

Bob S.

[toller]

I have done 8" on my table saw. It leaves a web that you can easily cut with a handsaw.

You can also rip it, resaw it, and glue it. A lot of work, but if you want to maximize your use without having the proper equipment....

[TheNewGuy]

What about running the baseboards through a planer to take off the paint? (again, providing it's not lead-based...)

[Dave in Fairfax]

Congratulations on the chestnut. Resawing by hand is problematic with that thin a piece of stock. You might be better off to strip what paint you can, and then planing the surfaces to remove any leftover paint. YMMV, Dave in Fairfax

[Stephen M]

"> What about running the baseboards through a planer to take off the

Bad idea.

Paint is amazingly abrasive.

The blades might last through a board. DAMHIKT

[Ray]

What about taking it off, flipping it over, then putting it back up?

[Brian Siano]

That's what I was hoping for, actually. I could take the 1/4" thick chestnut, and glue it onto a strong-but-cheaper backing, like 1/2" plywood or oak. I'd thus double the amount of chestnut "face" I'd have.

Just did-- and the first page I found suggested a framesaw instead. It'd be interesting if I could work up some way of keeping the saw cutting at a semi-uniform thickness.

As for paint stripping, I did a web page on it at briansiano.com. I can do it, and stripping a flat board is easy. But my resawing scheme would, if successful, increase my chestnut face-area, and provide some nice fresh chestnut face for my place. (I'm more partial to mahogany, however, and if I could resaw _that_, boy, I could do some nice bookshelves...)

[SonomaProducts.com]

Use a planer or wide belt sander. Much faster, easier and minimium of material removed.

[TheNewGuy]

[TheNewGuy]

[Brian Siano]

Afraid not. They'll have to pass through the layer of paint as they cut upwards. And then there's the problem of paint clogging onto the blades, and the creation of fine paint dust, which one wants to avoid when there's the prospect of lead.

[jo4hn]

I used my old Makita portable planer to take paint off the rails and skirts off a home built pool table. Worked fine and the blades were perhaps a bit dulled by it, but not so much as to screw up the boards. I wouldn't hesitate to try it on the baseboards. mahalo, jo4hn

[Charles Spitzer]

a 'this old house' had something that looked like a biscuit jointer tool, but with an exposed cutting blade out the bottom. it's used to take the paint off house siding. it left a pretty smooth surface.

[TheNewGuy]

Right, right, cuts through on the upcut; and yes, I mentioned the lead caution; but with the paint still adhered to a piece of wood - if the planer cut was deep enough - I don't forsee a big "gumming" problem. Probably also highly dependant on type and age (dried-ness) of paint.

Of course, theoretical and applied results often diverge; I guess I'll find out first hand when I start-in on my reclaimed lumber.

Thanks for your cautions, though, Brian.

-Chris

Brian Siano wrote:

paint,

[Australopithecus scobis]

Any relatives in Scotland? ;)

[Australopithecus scobis]

There is: practice.

Also helps if you can find someone to hold the other end of the frame resaw. Just take it slow. This kind of saw is easy to make; a little harder to use well. (I'm at the "use" stage-- "use well" is somewhere down the road.)

[Patriarch]

"TheNewGuy" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It turns out you can buy a LOT of 60 grit sanding belts for the cost of a set of planer blades. Particularly large planer blades.

Since there are all sorts of unknowns in reclaimed materials, belt sanders of various types, with decent dust collection/filtration, are usually the tools of choice. At least for the rough work.

Patriarch

[TheNewGuy]

Patriarch,

The reclaimed lumber in this case isn't quite as big an unknown because it came from my own deck (actually, just the railings). I removed all screws/nails as I disasembled, but have bought myself the Little(?) Wizard metal detector to double check before I put boards through the planer.

I have probably 100-150 linear feet EACH of 4x4, 4x6, and 2x6 redwood that I want to "refresh" for other (outdoor) projects. I did ALOT of belt sanding w/ my 3x21 Bosch last Fall to refurbish the decking that we left in-place (and then stained w/ some Cabot). But the stuff I removed was "stained" by the previous owner w/ something that is more "paint-like," meaning it had been flaking off. It was a major PITA to sand, but yes it's doable. I just had hoped that my planer would make MUCH quicker work of it all to give me some "like new" redwood to work with.

Maybe I should buy a "cheap" set of blades for the planer to do this work? Such a thing? I haven't investigated buying blades yet, just have the HSS blades that came installed in the General International

30-115 (15").

-Chris

Patriarch wrote: