thicknessing off a finish

[Michael Press]

I've got 60' of 2x8, probably white oak, stained a walnut color. I want to completely remove the dark finish.

(I've previously posted about whether to sand/scrape/strip, so I don't need to reopen that debate. BTW the consensus was scrape, but I'd rather just buy and mill new wood than spend the rest of my life scraping).

My question is this - can I just run the boards through a planer (say the Delta 13" model)? How deep might the color go, by that I mean how much surface would likely have to be removed to eliminte the color (it's an issue because the wood has a stopped dado along one width of the board, with 1/8" lip on either side. I would have to retain the lip, at least 1/16", so the absolute max I could remove with a planer is 1/16" per side).

Thanks, Michael

[John Crea]

Micheal

Of course you can run them thru a planner, but the depth of the stain/finish can vary by a good amount, so a setting that works for most of the boards may leave finish behind on some

Try one and see, but with your rigid contraints it may be do-able in this situation

John

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I've done this and it works fine. You won't know how deep the color runs until you try a piece.

Barry

[A Dubya]

Cut the end off of one of the boards, and see how deep the finish has penetrated. Do it to a couple of boards, and it should give you a good idea, how much material you will lose.

Scape, sand, plane, chew....you still have to remove the same amount.

Cheers,

Andy