# Is sanding best to remove paint in my case?



## BraniksPainting (Jan 20, 2012)

roasted said:


> Hello everyone. I recently did a botch paint/polycrylic job on some of my tables in my office area that I want to refinish. They started as wooden work benches which got morphed into nicer table tops for extra space at my desk, hence the paint attempt. Since I always learn the hard way, I'm stripping the paint now.
> 
> The wood is 3/4" MDF. It's wood that I don't necessarily want to put any sort of moisture on it since it swells. While I DO need to sand it for a good finish, the amount of sanding that's going into removing the paint is unreal. I'm working on a 3x6 section now that has 2 shelves - top and a bottom shelf. I must have spent 4 hours and I've got a ways to go yet. I still have two more larger tables to do!
> 
> ...


I'd use Stripeze! Available most places but I know for sure Sherwin Williams has it. Comes in quarts or gallons. Do not buy the green stuff though. It doesn't work that well. After you finish stripping, you will need to neutalize the surface from the stripper.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Are you sure that they are worth fixing?

MDF is not going to be able to strip with a liquid---It's just paper pulp and water soluble glue--

Sanding is the only way--at .50 a disk ---It would be cheaper to simply make new tops and shelves---

That's just my opinion---and I have a nice wood shop---so building is easier than sanding for me---Mike--


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

oh'mike said:


> Are you sure that they are worth fixing?
> 
> MDF is not going to be able to strip with a liquid---It's just paper pulp and water soluble glue--
> 
> ...


I'm only on my 2nd 50 grit slice of sandpaper (that stuff holds up super well). I picked up a dozen of them for 3 bucks the other day that fit my sander. To say that it would be more worthwhile to just build new would be a little unbalanced, because with the amount of MDF that's on these things, I'd probably spend 75 bucks easy on the wood for new ones and spend just as much time. I don't have a setup quite like your's.  

It's not about the cost of sanding, though. It's about the time involved that I wouldn't mind expediting. On the flip side, the sanding I'm doing is really giving these things a solid, extremely smooth finish that I'm really digging. Since they used to be used in the work shop, they had some dings and whatnot. But now they're looking brand new. I just don't want to spend the next 6 days sanding them if I can avoid it.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Kind of what I was thinking---6 days---$75 that's $12 a day pay---

But I have a big wood shop---


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

oh'mike said:


> Kind of what I was thinking---6 days---$75 that's $12 a day pay---
> 
> But I have a big wood shop---


While I have a nice workshop area, it's hardly usable yet. We moved in about 8 days ago, so things are still quite chaotic. Not to mention, besides a circular saw, I have nothing else. I'd really like a nice big table saw if I'm going to redo these things, unless I borrow one from my parents again when I initially built these. But, eh.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Could rent an infrared stripper and be done with this in minutes. Not sure how it would fit in with your cost justifications. I do not know what they rent for these days and I hear there are waiting lists. It is great technology though. My purchase of a system, while pricey, was one of the best tool investments I ever made. Easy and safe to use. Super fast even with multiple layers of paint. 

Wish they were around when I was restoring boats. Nice to have working on houses though.


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## BraniksPainting (Jan 20, 2012)

sdsester said:


> Could rent an infrared stripper and be done with this in minutes.


WOW! Now that is impressive and I have to say, never heard or seen anything like that before.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

BraniksPainting said:


> WOW! Now that is impressive and I have to say, never heard or seen anything like that before.


Fairly new technology out of Scandinavia of all places. Rent one to try and you will fall in love. Mine saved so much time it justified the cost---high for the real deal partly because of exchange rates---in no time. I got the rail system for exteriors. It lets you slide the thing along siding. I was taken out of the game and sold mine for more than I expected given the use I got out of it.

Obviously lead abatement issues remain but at least the stuff does not go airborne from sanding, etc. 

Here is the rail system and sorry to steer of track of the post. As you can see it let's the thing just glide along. Just follow it with a scraper or drywall knife.


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

Roasted, let me be the one to ask, Why are you stripping the wood we just had a long conversation about a few days back?


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

jsheridan said:


> Roasted, let me be the one to ask, Why are you stripping the wood we just had a long conversation about a few days back?


Because I decided to remove the finish that's on it and put formica on. Due to some imperfections that occurred when the house flooded shortly before I moved the wood swelled and permanently stuck in certain areas too. Only after I began sanding did I realize how bad it was, hence my continued interest in redoing it.

That said, I did begin to think about just building new ones though, for the soul purpose of being able to use these in the workshop and having newer, nicer ones for the office area. Still not sure what route I'll take on that, but it might be a good opportunity to just do it right while granting myself more workshop furniture/storage shelves in the process.

In other news, I think I'm going to try my luck with a wire brush on the bigger electrical drill I have to see how that works. I'll of course sand it lightly after for a uniform finish but if the paint can come off easier with this method, I'm all about it.


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## Mr. Paint (Nov 10, 2011)

Roasted,
It's probably too much effore for an MDF substrate. But, if you find yourself in a situation where you have to sand a latex finish, 3M makes a sandpaper specifically for latex. It is mint green in color. It will not gum up like regular production paper will.


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

While we're on this discussion, I'm trying to throw around ideas on how to finish the project if I am going to build new tables.

I'll be using Formica on the top, so I'm thinking about just getting particle board for the top. Then on the bottom I'm not sure yet. If I do MDF, I can paint it and call it a day (I don't really feel the need to spend extra money on Formica for the bottom when it'll just be spare computer towers sitting there, a printer, etc.) Of course, if I use particle board for the bottom, it's cheaper, but it's also not that great painted (assuming I'm thinking of the right stuff). However, the particle board I'm looking at on Lowes' site has "paintable" as a feature. Eh? Maybe it's not as porous as I thought?

Is there some sort of finish I can put on particle board to at least get it completely drywall smooth, or should I cut the chase and just do particle board/formica top, MDF bottom/painted?


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Are you really proposing to sandwich MDF to particle board? Why? Is anybody every going to see the bottom side of these things? You can buy different density particle board, by the way. Maybe I misunderstood you plans?


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

sdsester said:


> Are you really proposing to sandwich MDF to particle board? Why? Is anybody every going to see the bottom side of these things? You can buy different density particle board, by the way. Maybe I misunderstood you plans?


There's the desk top and the bottom shelf. The desk top is what will see a lot of traffic, which is where my concerns with the paint holding up came into play. The bottom shelf will easily be fine painted. That's why I was thinking particle board for the actual top (covered by Formica) and the bottom shelf painted MDF.

So the MDF and particle board aren't actually in contact. It's just different types of surfaces. The Formica is going to be jet black and everything that isn't covered in Formica will be painted black, so I think it'll all go together decently while having the better covering on the top surface.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

jsheridan said:


> Roasted, let me be the one to ask, Why are you stripping the wood we just had a long conversation about a few days back?


 
Beat me to it!:laughing:


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

chrisn said:


> Beat me to it!:laughing:


Post 15 should make a little more sense.  

On another note, I actually found an application for this desk top in another room downstairs in the basement. I'm just going to go over it again and get it back to where it was before I took a sander to the one edge. Other than that, it's a good opportunity for me to get all the wood I need in one shot. Then I'll be building a new desk top and two new tables out of 2x3's for legs and 3/4 inch particle board. The main desk, however, will be doubled up with two 3/4 inch sections for 1.5" thickness, mostly due to the fact that due to its design, I can't put any skirting on it for more rigidity. So we'll double up and call it a day there. 

I'm actually kind of excited to get this moving today... mostly because these tables will be tailored to the room they are now in, whereas before they were tailored for the room they 'were' in.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

roasted said:


> Post 15 should make a little more sense.
> 
> On another note, I actually found an application for this desk top in another room downstairs in the basement. I'm just going to go over it again and get it back to where it was before I took a sander to the one edge. Other than that, it's a good opportunity for me to get all the wood I need in one shot. Then I'll be building a new desk top and two new tables out of 2x3's for legs and 3/4 inch particle board. The main desk, however, will be doubled up with two 3/4 inch sections for 1.5" thickness, mostly due to the fact that due to its design, I can't put any skirting on it for more rigidity. So we'll double up and call it a day there.
> 
> I'm actually kind of excited to get this moving today... mostly because these tables will be tailored to the room they are now in, whereas before they were tailored for the room they 'were' in.


 
not really:no: but it sounds like you got it all under control now, good luck


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

chrisn said:


> not really:no: but it sounds like you got it all under control now, good luck


*facepalm* I meant post 11. I failed.  

Anyway, I actually re-thought my design too. I ended up getting a new door to use as a desktop on my main desk, with intention of adding a few inches to it that overhangs on each side. This would give me a larger surface area than I already had. The desk will likely be 75 wide, 32 deep (it comes 80 wide 32 deep but I think that's a little extreme, but we'll see what it looks like when I sit it on top and step back). Then the table to my right I'm going to bump up in size a little bit. Due to the wider desk and the wider right handed table, it really makes it impossible to have a table on the left and still get into the office area, so I nix'd the 2 table idea. That also cuts cost on Formica as well.  

I built the skeleton of the side table last night and will likely put the top on today and paint the bottom portion that won't be Formica. Then maybe later in the week I can complete the main desk as well.

My other half has already claimed my two tables for her own uses... one as a laundry table and another for her own projects. Tacked on to the honey-do list is to repaint them to her desired color scheme. That list is only getting longer... :laughing:


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