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I have inherited a lovely old antique Edison record player manufactured near the turn of the last century. The finish on the interior of the piece is in very good condition, stained very dark. The outside however received a coat of paint somewhere along the line. I would like to remove the paint without removing the original color and stain underneath. Anyone have any restoration ideas that might work ?
KDL
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Keith,
The first step would be to evaluate the paint. This determines what type of stripper to use. There is a possibility that there is a clear finish such as shellac over the paint.
Pour a small amount of denatured alcohol on a horizontal surface and let it stand for a few minutes. Using a cotton ball or tissue paper dab the puddle, if the cotton or tissue sticks, it is shellac and most any stripper will remove it. If the cotton or tissue doesn't stick, use lacquer thinner, let stand, test for sticking. If it sticks it's lacquer if not it is probably varnish. Paint is either oil or water based, and in your case more than likely oil.
For effective and less invasive stripping you need to do the above test so you can use the proper stripper for the job at hand. Strippers can be broken down into 5 basic categories and manufactures must list the hazardous chemicals. The greater the health hazard the more efficient the stripper. For vertical surfaces you will want to use a paste or gel since they will cling to the surface longer.
The five categories are: MAT (Methanol, acetone, toluene), Methylene chloride, DBE (dibasic esters) NMP (N-methyl pyrrolidone),and Lye (sodium hydroxide).
Methylene chloride is the probably the fastest and most efficient of all the types. Which also means the greatest risk to your health. Other than being the most efficient for all types of finishes, it does have an advantage of being non-flammable and it works from the bottom up. This is my preferred type. Because there are no standard respirators rated to handle methylene chloride fumes, this work should only be done outdoors.
NMP strippers are safer but cost about 2-3 times the cost. Works just as well as the above.
MAT strippers work well only on shellac and lacquer finishes, have little effect on varnish and no effect at all on paint. They do work from the top down and are excellent for use on clear finished pieces. MAT strippers are extremely flammable. Use in a well ventilated area and use a respirator.
DBE strippers are the safest, and take the longest to work. They are water based so care must be taken on veneered surfaces to prevent warping.
Lye is very effective in removing many layers of oil based paint. However, it can stain some woods and can cause fibre damage and I would never use it for restoration purposes.
Regardless of which type you end up using, follow the manufactures recommendations to the letter. It has been my experience that most people are too impatient when using strippers. Let the stripper do it's thing. When, for example, methylene chloride has done it's job, the finish will appear crinkled and it will lift off the surface with a dull putty knife. The key is patience.
Unfortuneatly, the best strippers are the most harmful as I stated. So following the manufactures safety procedures is important. As to particular brands I have no favorites as the chemicals are pretty basic. Good luck.
Dano
*Dano, wouldn't you be concerned the stripper would pull the whole kit and kaboodle off, right down to the wood? Strippers scare the crud out of me, for this reason.Keith, if you don't mind taking a lot of time at it, I would start with a card scraper with a very small burr. For me at least, this is about the most subtle, controllable, removal tool on Earth. Slow, but with some practice I think you could probably decide to pull "about a ten-thousandth" off. ;-)The danger is, once you've gotten the paint off, you might find out why they painted it. :-( It would be a worthwhile gamble for me.Dave
*I think the stripper will work if you work quickly. I have removed new paint over old (good) paint in this way. Work in small areas--probably a half or quarter of a side (if I can visualize this piece) using a MC stripper. Try to work horizontally so the stripper doesn't run. Let the stripper work and do its job by raising the paint but work as quickly as you can. With any luck it is a fairly new paint and there was a layer of shellac on the piece so it is not in the grain and will come off easily. Remove the "sludge" with a dull putty knife. When moving on to the next area to strip don't allow stripper to drip on the stripped wood--wipe it up right away. And be sure to remove all vestiges of stripper with mineral spirits.
*Dave,I have never experienced an MC stripper creating problems with the original stain on a piece as they don't stain the wood nor do they "pull" the original stain out of the wood. It will sometimes soften the wood and that is why I mentioned the dull putty knife. To be safe it would be prudent to round off the corners of the knife too. As to clean up, I omitted any general reference of solvents because I have found that clean up procedures can vary by manufacturer and was the reason behind stressing that the manufactures' instructions should be followed to the letter.I use a variety of tools for removing the stripper from standard putty knives to an 18" wide dry wall knife used to feather out the final coat of joint compound. Since my dry wall days are long behind me I have rounded the corners of all my dry wall knives although I have yet to find another use for my hawk.:) Unless one is trying to achieve that "distressed" look that was the rage back in the 60s don't use one of those handled paint scrapers used to remove house paint.Dano
*"As to clean up, I omitted any general reference of solvents because I have found that clean up procedures can vary by manufacturer and was the reason behind stressing that the manufactures' instructions should be followed to the letter"I would say strongly that any stripper that uses water not be used because it will raise the grain to heaven above and if it is veneer (as might be possible in this case) it will raise the veneer also. It always used to be so inviting to use a stripper that said "wash with water" but if you want to remove every evidence of character of the wood of the piece, seek these out!!
*Gretchen,"DBE strippers are the safest, and take the longest to work. They are water based so care must be taken on veneered surfaces to prevent warping."From my first response to Keith's question.Dano
*Well, I never use that kind because water on plain wood raises the grain to heaven itself and in my opinion ruins the finish. It SEEMS so easy to use water for the clean up. I had recommended a MC stripper and was just following through with the admonishment to get it all off or you will have finish problems from the wax in it. Plus the possibility of part of this being veneered would obviate using a stripper that was water based. Did we essentially say the same thing?
*Gretchen,It appears so.In quoting part of my answer to Dave's question and since the following "admonishment" was not addressed to anyone specifically, it appeared to be directed at me for lack of clarity, thought maybe you misread my responses and/or were having a bad day of some sort, who knows? I don't always have the inclination to attempt to decipher what is being said between the lines, if anything is between the lines, so on and so forth. I read only the words and focus on what exactly is said. And since no one said or did anything wrong that required an "admonishment" I, quit frankly, didn't have a clue in hell where you were coming from. Since there are only the two of us participating at this point, I only assume that your last post is directed at me.Dano
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