Removing plaster coving

[teddysnips]

Our ground floor rooms have extensive plaster coving. During our recent works quite a lot was either removed or damaged. We're not that fond of it, so I'd like to take down the rest.

The coving itself comes off quite easily, but what I'm struggling with are the snots of bonding/browning/dabbing mixture/whatever was used to fix said covings. It's as hard as nails and sticks (which is really what you'd want in the circs.) I've tried scraping it off with a paint scraper (painful and slow), chipping it off with a paint scraper and wee hammer (ok, but damaging the handle of my trusty Hamilton scraper), and am now considering a bolster.

I think the bolster might be de trop for this - has anyone a neater solution? I did consider a cheapo cheapo wood chisel which I would be happy to sacrifice. I'm not bothered about leaving holes in the ceiling/walls as I'm pretty nifty with filler!

Thanks

Edward

[Weatherlawyer]

When I were a lad we had things called chisels. Sharp they were and made of tool steel. We used to hit them with hammers. Long ago that was. Things is different now.

Ah, the good old days.

[teddysnips]

That sounds like a cunning plan. My brother is a cabinet maker - last time I looked he had a drawer full of the things. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I borrowed a couple.

Edward

[Andrew Gabriel]

If he's a real cabinet maker proud of his tools, he most certainly will as this will damage them for that purpose. You want a couple of cheap chisels.

[Lurch]

On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:39:40 -0700, [e-mail] mused:

I'll bet he would. Buy a cheap one from the shops.

[Weatherlawyer]

That's a good idea, a couple of drawers so that you can put things from one into the other while (I presume) looking for a chisel among the other things.

[teddysnips]

Whoosh.

Edward