pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
Okay, I finally have some time today to start using the methylene chloride (not enviromentally safer) stripper on my 1919 Old Town. HOLY CATS! The difference between the safer stuff and this slop is incredible... one application, wait 3 minutes, & I could scrape paint off all the way to the wood, through however many layers of paint are on this canoe.
It took 2 & 1/2 gallons of safer stripper (three flavors, none worked better than the others), and a lot of hours, to get almost 1/3 of the canoe mostly stripped (still have some parts to finish up). The meth chloride took maybe a cup, and maybe 20 minutes, to strip the width of 4 ribs down to nearly bare wood.
There were a couple of persistent paint spots that the safer stripper could not remove, even after six applications. After one application of the less safe stuff, they are gone.
Using either the safer or less safe stripper, the removed material is still toxic waste, because of the lead content of the old paint. With the less safe slop, there's a lot less of this waste, because there will be so much less stripper needed.
The fumes for the less safe slop are horrendous, but a slightly open garage door, and a good organic vapors mask, takes care of that.
I'm sold. Although the place in Green Bay is still a viable option...
It took 2 & 1/2 gallons of safer stripper (three flavors, none worked better than the others), and a lot of hours, to get almost 1/3 of the canoe mostly stripped (still have some parts to finish up). The meth chloride took maybe a cup, and maybe 20 minutes, to strip the width of 4 ribs down to nearly bare wood.
There were a couple of persistent paint spots that the safer stripper could not remove, even after six applications. After one application of the less safe stuff, they are gone.
Using either the safer or less safe stripper, the removed material is still toxic waste, because of the lead content of the old paint. With the less safe slop, there's a lot less of this waste, because there will be so much less stripper needed.
The fumes for the less safe slop are horrendous, but a slightly open garage door, and a good organic vapors mask, takes care of that.
I'm sold. Although the place in Green Bay is still a viable option...