Removing Paint

I'm afraid those are the only methods I know. I generally use a hot air gun and get in there with a variety of scrapers ( triangular ( left and right handed ) and flat (varying widths )). Then I finish off with an application or two of Nitromors to get the remnants off, with more scraping. Nitromors, in my experience, takes many applications to strip a lot of layers of old paint ( maybe I'm doing it wrong? ), so I save money and just finish off with it.

Andy.

It happens that Jason formulated :

I once attempted the same job with Nitomors and a hot air gun, it proved to be a disaster. I ended up sanding down the hand rails plus uprights and replacing the spindles with new.

It happens that Harry Bloomfield formulated :

Another thought....

I assume you are trying to strip it to varnish? Why not varnish the handrail and uprights, where it is possible to get the paint off without too much difficulty and paint the spindles.

Buy a big pack of wire wool from a plumbers merchant. Good for getting the residue off while it's still soft. Protect hands with cotton gloves, the stripper will eat rubber or plastic.

Knock the spindles out and get them dipped - possibly just buy new ones (which if they're special may need making by a commercial turner). Use heat/stripper/scrapers/paper on the hand rail. When I did a staircase a while ago using a decorater's blowlamp (oil) and various shave hooks it took about an hour per spindle! N.B. your stripped timber is unlikely to be suitable for staining, you will have to use coloured varnish, which has its own problems.

My advice is just not to get involved. Dipping doors ruins the wood as the dip is caustic which not only damages the glue (weakening the door) but also removes most of the colour from the wood. I have just sold a victorian house where I either stripped or replaced the wood work, and have vowed to paint the woodwork white in my new (early 18th C) house, it might not look quite as good to modern eyes, but my wife prefers it to endless hours with the nitromors along with the consequent carcinogenic fumes.

If you really must do it then mechanical scraping is pretty good. I have some scrapers made out of very large hacksaw blades so each scraper is about 50mm width with a 2mm thickness. The edge is ground on a grinding wheel to and the scraper used at ~90 degrees to the surface to be stripped. If you have the kit you can then make scrapers with profiles to match the moulding (my Dad does mine). Alternatively Nitromors or own brand equivalent with plastic wire-wool scourers and hours (and hours) of time.

Best of all... give it up now!

The colour change is reversible with dilute peroxide

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 20:43:57 +0100, "stuart noble"

No.

The 2nd part of any 2 part "Wood Bleach" (e.g. Rustins) is hydrogen peroxide. This can be diluted 3 or 4 to 1 with water and brushed on with an synthetic bristle brush. For dipped items don't use part 1, which is caustic, and would just be a repeat of the dipping process. Observe all the safety warnings with this stuff.