Let's talk about...heat guns

[Lily left the valley]

Although I'm not sure it will be in the budget just yet, I want a heat gun.

I know quite a few folks here have them, and most seem to adore them. BUT...when I try to do a search for all the posts that touch on heat guns, a gajillion posts come up that I have to sort through because the forum tells me it's going to ignore the word "gun" for some reason. So that means that anytime the word "heat" comes up, they're lumped into the responses on the search query, and I don't have time fer all that sifting and sorting right now. I have some idea of brands related to said posts I've found so far, but not all posts state the brand/model/spiffy whatever details either.

If there was another thread just about heat guns in the past and I've missed it, please feel free to point me towards it, and I apologize for the double.

So please appease my lazy side if you have time and an opinion, and let's talk about heat guns. The good, the bad, and the downright "oh noes".

Your , please.

[Willa]

I've used a couple of different heat guns belonging to other people. I couldn't tell you what brand/wattage, etc. they were. I suspect they were cheapER ones as they were pretty noisy. Beyond that, they seemed to work best on the high setting to get to the bottom layers of paint. The person using them needs to have an ordinary sense of vigilance, as the wood can start to smoke and smoulder. I used an old putty knife that was pretty rounded and blunt for stripping as it was less likely to gouge or splinter wood than a sharper one.

The noisier ones can get irritating, and the vibrations can make your hand start to feel tingly if you are doing an afternoon's worth of stripping.

Check your local CL or pawnshop for used ones that don't look too beat up ? Take an old painty wood scrap to see if they are heating up properly (if grouchy pawn shop goons will let you) ?

I haven't used an infrared heat remover, but I heard they are really great ?

[TexasRed]

Lily don't know what project you have in mind for the heat gun, but you will find lots of way to use it once you have one. It is our most used tool at the moment (going on weeks now).

I recommend you look for a model that has variable heat setting as well as low & high fan speeds. I think they all have an auto cool down cycle when you turn it "off". I wouldn't buy one that only has 2 heat settings (like 400* and 1100*). The wide range of temps really is helpful depending on what you are heating.

Ours is a Wagner we got at Homer Depot. For around $30-$40. Works great for paint stripping, albeit a slow process. It is no noisier than a hair dryer. I originally purchased it to apply chrome auto film to metal barstools - it worked fantastic for that crazy project as well.

As Willa suggests, used is probably fine. I don't know life expectancy of a $30 heat gun - our has been running 6-8 hours a day with no obvious decline in performance.

[awomanwithahammer]

Lily, I JUST bought a heat gun, and I'm so excited about it. I found a Porter-Cable on Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... TF8&psc=1; I also ordered the attachments for it, and the total came to <$45. It has the variable heat setting and fan speeds. I have tested it on several stripping jobs around the house, and it is AWESOME! Not as noisy as my hair dryer, and doesn't seem to vibrate much. Your arm will get tired of holding it, but it does get through the paint. My trim doesn't have multiple layers of paint, and the medium heat seems to be doing the job. I don't know what it would take for thicker/more layers. It's not necessarily a quicker way of stripping, but seems to be more efficient and less physically demanding than scraping.

So my is that it is well worth the money. Hope this helps.

Bonnie

[phil]

here is a variable temperature one for 40 bucks canandian.
page 15
http://www.summittools.com/index.php?op ... Itemid=105

here is another
https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ ... -prod-com2

One thing I have noticed with hair dryers is that if you compare the cheapest to the most expensive, most I have seen dont' exceed 1700 watts. these are 1500

I have two, one is made by "force" I think , they are about the cheapest tool company and notorious for junk. the other is a milwalkee. I dont' think one is better than the other.

depending on the surface and how fast you are at scraping , sometimes what you can do is tape two together. someone here suggested that and I tried it and it works great but you have to have a surface you can go that fast on. it's not for near windows and things. use two cords and two circuits, then you can go faster on larger surfaces.

wind and fans can complicate the heat distribution.


If you can devise a way of cleaning the blade it helps, getting the stuff off that is stuck to your putty knife quickly is important if you want to go continuously. the edge of a big coffee can works if you nail it down for example. Ive been stopping and using my little scraper to clear my blade. keeping the blade clear means less smearing of the thin melted film behind the blade. best if you can go to wood on the first pass. I thought of putting a scraper or something on my ladder to have a spot to clear the blade with only one hand so you dont' have to put the gun down to use the other hand, this stopping the process.

you can look for a long handle putty knife to keep heat away from your hand, and you can file the angle to what suits you. you might need gloves depending on your technique. I try to angle the heat in the direction of travel to keep the heat off my right hand with the knife. once you get going you can usually go a foot or so before you have to stop but that depends on the surface.

I lent my cheapo "force" one to my neighbor and she did the whole outside of her house with it. the rigid isn't any better in my opinion but it does have a metal housing.

one thing to look at is how easy is it to put down without the hot end touching the floor?

you can weld plastic with them and get different tips so maybe you'd want a variable control for that. personally I find I have that control just by how far I am away. it's easy to tip it away for a second if you are getting it too hot. it's just practice. If you do a lot there probably are some fancy ones. but I'd say just pick up what's cheap and use that for now.

it's a lot like gas welding. with practice you get good at manipulating the heat by changing your distance, angle and speed. you watch the melted puddle , or in this case how bubbled or brown the paint is and you get better the more you do. If you stop for a month you have to relearn but it comes back faster. It's more about the person behind the tool than the tool itself. If you can manipulate your angle and direction and use gravity in your favor you can prevent the curls of paint from blocking the heat and changing your speed. if you are going downwards the paint will want to flip over ahead to where your heat is and that doesn't help, if you go upwards this isn't an issue so I can go further without stopping if I go upwards or sideways.

I dont' know about the ceramic ones. I think you really want the fan but maybe others who have used it like the silent stripper. If you have milk paint underneath it's hard to strip, if you have shellac underneath it's way easier. some surfaces are smoother and easier to strip. see what things like alcohol or water or acetone will do if you apply them after you get the bulk off. in some instances you can just clear the bulk and dissolve what's left, or use stripper and in some circumstances dissolving the pigment just runs it into the cracks and scratches making things worse, but experiment as you go. If you are repainting obviously you arent' as worried about getting every speck. in some cases it's fastest to just get the bulk off and let a power sander do the rest rather than getting super picky.

under the paint there is often a layer of darker wood from sun darkening. At first many people try to get the paint off without disturbing this layer which is near impossible. the other approach is to not worry about that and plan to sand through that layer and use other means to correct the color later. usually I find that easier and faster, but some details you may want to be very slow and careful with, or it may be a difficult surface to sand so everything is always a trade off.

I'm really liking the little tool I made as I can just switch out the carbide blades and get a really sharp one. I use that more after the bulk is off but in some places I can just use the sharp blade without heat and go even faster. how sharp you want the putty knife or how rounded the corners are might have some impact. it's a trade off between not digging into the wood and getting under the paint. If you find yourself pushing the knife really hard you are usually doing something wrong. it might be good to have a few different widths of pull scrapers if you do a lot of that. you can use steam too.

so far as safety and protecting yourself from dust and fumes , that's probably another topic. sometimes I find it's less stinky if I can keep the heat from burning the paint on the blade so that might mean heating 2 inches ahead of the blade instead of just an inch ahead. getting it hot and off right away seems to help rather than trying to preheat the area, but you can experiment with warming the area ahead first too. there are a lot of variables !

I don't find the vibration a big deal maybe some are more balanced or more ergonomic. I seem to always want to use the high setting or 1500 watts or so so I dont' think the variable part is too helpful but maybe others differ?

if you try using two heat guns, wear gloves and dont' do this in tight areas but it might work ok on the side of your house where you just want to go as fast as you can and you don't have the obstacles. don't do it on a handrail it'll just be too hot for the speed you can scrape at. If you are wood burning you are going too slow or it's too hot so hold it further or go faster or tip it away while your putty knife catches up.

[Mick_VT]

Essential tool - use only outside or in very well ventilated areas as the heat will vaporize all sorts of things, including lead from the paint. Be careful of them around holes or crevices as you can start a fire with them. Also be very careful near glass as it can cause a crack from thermal shock. I love them for removing paint and old putty. I have used the for soldering in the past as well.

[heartwood]

over the years we have tried many different brands...Milwaukee, bosch, black and decker and wagner...the wagner has actually come down in price and is $20 at my LOCAL INDEPENDENT general store...I usually have three in the shop at any given time even though we only use two at a time...we've had some last 18 months, some 2 months and an average of about 9 months (average 20 hours a week)...the B&D lasted 10 minutes! the store takes back the ones I've had for 3 months or less without question...the package says ' TWO YEAR WARRANTY'...in fine print it states that only applies to homeowner use...
I will continue to purchase and use wagner 2-speed heat guns as they are a known entity...http://www.jcpenney.com/wagner-heat-gun ... ctads-adid^9341368650-device^c-plaid^1100100961209-sku^80131900018@ADL10BMC-adType^PLA yup, we pay $19.99 at our little store that has been in business in the same location for 165 years! see the wagner kit on the same page...it has nozzles that better direct the heat...prices are high....
good luck!
...jade

[Gothichome]

Lily, I just use the cheapey two temp gun from the local hardware store. Nothing fancy. Seems I get about two years of service out of each. Cost me about $30 Canuck bucks.

[GibsonGM]

Mick told ya...the crap you will volatilaze using one of these....oh boy. But - nothing strips old paint the way a nice heat gun does! I'd lecture, but I would do it myself in some situations...

So - don't do it if you're going to be exposed to the crap vapors later....if you are inside, you need to seal off the room you're working...good weather, big box fan in the window and suck it out, and tape up the doors. Don't breathe this crud, ok? Don't do it for money, for others, EVER, either....that is a major crime in many places (US). 10's of thousands of dollars in fines for ONE time.

While you work - good-fitting HEPA respirator WITH A VOC cartridge. It will be pink and gray. Look for BOTH colors, and do what you need to do to assure that your respirator fits properly. Will stop particles AND volatile gasses. Please use one. If you don't, years later you'll be in a wheelchair and on an O2 tank, 55 yrs. old...not from one or two times, but we NEVER do one or two times, and you know it!

If things are getting 'too smokey', you can't see, blah blah - then change how you are doing it to make it better.

Other than that, YOLO, and go have fun. Be safe.

[Casey]

Hi,
I have been using this model heat gun fr 15 years more or less, the heat setting is electronically controlled, so there are infinite settings.
http://www.essentialhardware.com/makita ... n=shopping

This kind of paint scraper works best with heat guns because the area behind the blade is open therefore it doesn't clog.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Devil-3110-D ... 4RBWPB2NRM
I have been using heat guns of various types since 1985, so I'll just leave it at that and spare you an essay.
Casey