Planer to remove paint?

[anastasia]

I'm wondering if it's feasible to use a planer to remove paint from
wood, or if this would ruin the planer?

I have a number of old (very old) stair treads with several layers of
paint on them. I would like to glue them up as a panel to make a
workbench top, but I'd need to remove the paint, obviously. Typical
paint removers are not working, and I'm not horribly fond of chemicals
to begin with.

At first glance, it seems logical that a planer would offer a
mechanical form of paint removal that might be faster and easier than
sanding, but I could also imagine that the paint might wreck the
planer in a way that wood wouldn't.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
anastasia

[Victor Bazarov]

You could try burning the paint off with a torch. Take a propane/butane
torch to some part of the least valuable tread and try heating the paint
until it starts to bubble, then use a putty knife to scrape it. I am no
expert, but I'd only take it to the planer after most of the paint has
been scraped that way.

I think trying to remove paint with a planer would not *ruin* the
planer, but it will quickly clog the cutting edges with paint chips, so
it's not an effective way of removing paint by any stretch. You'll
spend more time removing paint from the planer than from the treads...

V
--
I do not respond to top-posted replies, please don't ask

[Stuart]

In article <j6fj3f$1nd$1...@dont-email.me>,

Victor Bazarov <v.ba...@comcast.invalid> wrote:
> You could try burning the paint off with a torch.

Do be careful though. If the paint is very old it may contain lead and you
don't want to go breathing that in.

--
Stuart Winsor

[Victor Bazarov]

Sorry, I forgot to put a disclaimer in my message. Guess now they're
going to sue me for the fire in their shop that *I* caused, and for all
health problems they're *going to have* after they follow my advice,
regardless of the actual causes of the problems... Sheesh!

[DanG]

If the blades are worn or if you are comfortable about changing the
blades, go ahead and run the painted boards. There is a definite
probability that you will ding the blades in the process. The paint
will not harm the machine, just the blades. It may well be worth a set
of blades, especially on these new benchtop miniatures that have the
easy set blades. If you've ever set knives on an old planer you would
know why to hesitate about any chance of knicking a set of knives.

[Stephen Mclean]

Hello Anastasia,
I would suggest buying beltsander and using a course maybe 40 grit
sanding belt and a dust protection mask.
Beltsanders can really remove paint quickly so use caution.
Regards Stephen