Can We Talk About the Speedheater paint remover?
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BlakeHillHouse
- Been here a while
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 1:38 pm
Re: Can We Talk About the Speedheater paint remover?
This is a lot of good information to think about. Thank you.
Stacy
Owner and Blogger of our 1880s...um...Colonial? Victorian?
Owner and Blogger of our 1880s...um...Colonial? Victorian?
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phil
- Has many leather bound books
- Posts: 4616
- Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
- Location: Near Vancouver BC
Re: Can We Talk About the Speedheater paint remover?
here is a little video showing the cobra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfIPHpPH2q4
I find that when I strip with a heatgun, I would clamp the piece down use the heatgun in my left and it's a continuous operation. the speed that I move at is governed by feel in my scraper hand by how soft the paint is. I try not to go back over areas, or stop and start, but rather, to make this a continuous operation.
The way I see this guy doing it, he's heating the paint beyond the point he needed to because he has to , because the part is cooling during the time he turns his heat gun away and then starts his scraping, then he's reheating , so what is happening is the temperature is rising and falling and going all over the place.
hes getting away with it in the video because his paint example is easy to strip but in practice it won't always be so easy.
On the window he chose as an example Its probably latex or something .Usually I find I'm up against tougher paint and layers of it. of course the thicker the paint is, the longer the dwell time to get enough heat not just to the paint but to the bottom of the bottom layer of paint. each project I take on seems to be a different set of circumstances and it takes a bit of time to adjust to how the paint layers react. some is extremely tough especially milk paint. other stuff wants to fall off as soon as it sees a little heat. thicker layers take more heat energy.
one issue I see is that I usually find if I am heating the paint and try to use the type of scraper he has, I have to stop and clear the blade and those carbide blades cut well and stay sharp but they are not so easy to clear. so for the bulk I like to use a fairly stiff flat long putty knife and clear the blade by rubbing it against the edge of a coffee can or a strip of hard metal that I will clamp down in a convenient location to scrape my putty knife against.
I find that the right angle carbide scrapers will work ok once I get most of it off and they work well for cold scraping but if there is a lot of paint thickness and it is usually oil based stuff so I find the putty knife easier to clear. since I am heat scraping as continuously as possible, the blade stays warm. If I kept stopping like he shows I'd be continuously fighting trying to clear the blade because once you stop heating , the blade cools and the paint turns to something like cement rather than coming off the blade while it and the blade are still hot.
I think that the secret is to make it a continuous motion as much as possible, of course with details like mullions it is not possible to move continuously like you can with baseboards and casings, where its mostly flat.
also I move my scraper hand with some degree of care. I am not only removing the paint but also restricting the amount of pressure so that when the blade digs in I'm not gouging into the wood itself. I pretend my scraper hand is really weak basicly. with a right angle scraper you can push hard, it wont; catch , when you use a putty knife you have to sort of feel with it and careful and observant about not digging in when it catches on splinters. you should never need to push hard.
also as with the nature of wood grain, there is usually a direction that is favorable. If you look at the edge of a board , try to percieve where the grain is lifting towards the surface. If you look at the grain you can see which direction is more favorable, so that the chances of catching into a splinter are less.
its much like if you grab a hand plane and start planing a plank. you'll often find that in one direction you get a smooth cut and in the other direction the plane wants to dig in or produce a rough surface. It depends how the wood grain lies and it differs. If the wood is all edge grain it will catch much less than it will it is flat grain. you may find that in the same board the grain may be in your favor at one end of a plank and that may change as you go to the other end. More simply put, if your knife digs in a lot in one direction try going the other way to see if it happens less often. If you can see the edge of the plank you are stripping and note how the grain lies take note which direction is more favorable by perceiving how the grain is lying, if it is lifting or lowering towards the surface you are scraping.
we probably all have different methods and you will naturally change your technique as your circumstances do. On larger stripping jobs of course as you are working you often have nothing better to think about than how to make it easier and faster for yourself. " there's gotta be an easier way"
the way I see it with the heatgun , Ill hold it at an angle so the point where I am stripping is the hottest, the heat gun is pointed towards the scraping direction on a slant, so it is preheating the surface. stopping the motion and re starting in a different spot slows me down so I look for ways to make it as continuous as possible motion rather than stopping and starting like in the video.
im sure we all have different tools methods and circumstances but I always try to experiment as I go , looking for easier faster ways for myself, trying to minimize damage and make it more ergonomic. clamping stuff to a solid table helps if you can. I'd rather pull a casing off and re nail it back than work on a ladder or on my knees. others fear damaging the board, do what works best for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfIPHpPH2q4
I find that when I strip with a heatgun, I would clamp the piece down use the heatgun in my left and it's a continuous operation. the speed that I move at is governed by feel in my scraper hand by how soft the paint is. I try not to go back over areas, or stop and start, but rather, to make this a continuous operation.
The way I see this guy doing it, he's heating the paint beyond the point he needed to because he has to , because the part is cooling during the time he turns his heat gun away and then starts his scraping, then he's reheating , so what is happening is the temperature is rising and falling and going all over the place.
hes getting away with it in the video because his paint example is easy to strip but in practice it won't always be so easy.
On the window he chose as an example Its probably latex or something .Usually I find I'm up against tougher paint and layers of it. of course the thicker the paint is, the longer the dwell time to get enough heat not just to the paint but to the bottom of the bottom layer of paint. each project I take on seems to be a different set of circumstances and it takes a bit of time to adjust to how the paint layers react. some is extremely tough especially milk paint. other stuff wants to fall off as soon as it sees a little heat. thicker layers take more heat energy.
one issue I see is that I usually find if I am heating the paint and try to use the type of scraper he has, I have to stop and clear the blade and those carbide blades cut well and stay sharp but they are not so easy to clear. so for the bulk I like to use a fairly stiff flat long putty knife and clear the blade by rubbing it against the edge of a coffee can or a strip of hard metal that I will clamp down in a convenient location to scrape my putty knife against.
I find that the right angle carbide scrapers will work ok once I get most of it off and they work well for cold scraping but if there is a lot of paint thickness and it is usually oil based stuff so I find the putty knife easier to clear. since I am heat scraping as continuously as possible, the blade stays warm. If I kept stopping like he shows I'd be continuously fighting trying to clear the blade because once you stop heating , the blade cools and the paint turns to something like cement rather than coming off the blade while it and the blade are still hot.
I think that the secret is to make it a continuous motion as much as possible, of course with details like mullions it is not possible to move continuously like you can with baseboards and casings, where its mostly flat.
also I move my scraper hand with some degree of care. I am not only removing the paint but also restricting the amount of pressure so that when the blade digs in I'm not gouging into the wood itself. I pretend my scraper hand is really weak basicly. with a right angle scraper you can push hard, it wont; catch , when you use a putty knife you have to sort of feel with it and careful and observant about not digging in when it catches on splinters. you should never need to push hard.
also as with the nature of wood grain, there is usually a direction that is favorable. If you look at the edge of a board , try to percieve where the grain is lifting towards the surface. If you look at the grain you can see which direction is more favorable, so that the chances of catching into a splinter are less.
its much like if you grab a hand plane and start planing a plank. you'll often find that in one direction you get a smooth cut and in the other direction the plane wants to dig in or produce a rough surface. It depends how the wood grain lies and it differs. If the wood is all edge grain it will catch much less than it will it is flat grain. you may find that in the same board the grain may be in your favor at one end of a plank and that may change as you go to the other end. More simply put, if your knife digs in a lot in one direction try going the other way to see if it happens less often. If you can see the edge of the plank you are stripping and note how the grain lies take note which direction is more favorable by perceiving how the grain is lying, if it is lifting or lowering towards the surface you are scraping.
we probably all have different methods and you will naturally change your technique as your circumstances do. On larger stripping jobs of course as you are working you often have nothing better to think about than how to make it easier and faster for yourself. " there's gotta be an easier way"
the way I see it with the heatgun , Ill hold it at an angle so the point where I am stripping is the hottest, the heat gun is pointed towards the scraping direction on a slant, so it is preheating the surface. stopping the motion and re starting in a different spot slows me down so I look for ways to make it as continuous as possible motion rather than stopping and starting like in the video.
im sure we all have different tools methods and circumstances but I always try to experiment as I go , looking for easier faster ways for myself, trying to minimize damage and make it more ergonomic. clamping stuff to a solid table helps if you can. I'd rather pull a casing off and re nail it back than work on a ladder or on my knees. others fear damaging the board, do what works best for you.