Can anyone give me some advise about whether I can plane off exterior paint from 1×6 mahogony deck boards. I have a 13″ delta 220 volt machine. The paint is peeling in some areas from wear. I have about 300bf. Would I damage the machine, ruin the blades, etc. If not any suggestions?
thanks
Replies
The first question regardless of tools is; how old is the paint (any of it)? If it is mid 70s or earlier it likely contains lead. Planing that would be a BAD idea beacuse you would have lead dust everywhere. People end up w/ lead toxicity from sanding lead-based paint and planing would be no different.
As for damage, I would imagine it would wreak havoc on your blades.
Don't do it! I had this exact same question when I first bought my planer. Got lots of advice, but the winning argument pointed out how the paint could soften and gum up the rollers, blades and everything else under there. Not worth it!
I ended up using a heavy stripper until it got down to paint mostly in the pores, then I planed it. Got some nice old oak out of it!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Thanks for that good advice!
It makes alot of sense and will probably eliminate alot of work afterwards in trying to restore the planer.
thanks again
Mark
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