Removing paint on the interior trim, and the heat gun is working well. I've got it dialled way down, to ~300°F, and it's taking almost everything off. There's no lead paint on the trim, at least in this room, so that's not a worry at this point. I'm pretty sure the underlying coating is 1930-ish shellac, and I think we're going back to that as our finish.
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The Questions: What's the best way to get the flecks and bits we missed on the first pass? Do we need to go back over the whole thing with the scraper and heat gun? Just scrape 'em? Will they come off if we give the surface a quick wipe with an alcohol-wetted cloth--or will that just embed them into the shellac itself?
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The photo of the paint chunk is to show the dark green whatever that's underlying the paint. I suspect it's some kind of caulk or filler, because I just see that layer in the corners and joints. It's not malleable, but hard, and seems a little less crack-prone than the oil paint. If anybody knows better what that is, and knows how to easily dig it out, you're on my Christmas-card list forever.
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Finally, the last picture shows the end-grain side of a board. The paint is much harder to pull off here, of course, and I'm wondering if anybody has any good tips. I don't have any chemical strippers handy, mainly because some of them drive lead out of paint and into the wood itself. That's not an issue here, but it means I don't have any experience with what would be the proper one to use. It might be what I need; the end-grain of the boards, as well as that little strip along the bottom of the baseboard (which used to be behind quarter-round over the linoleum), are really stubbon areas.
Long post, I know, but I appreciate your time and help! Thanks much!
--El Barbón
The Questions: What's the best way to get the flecks and bits we missed on the first pass? Do we need to go back over the whole thing with the scraper and heat gun? Just scrape 'em? Will they come off if we give the surface a quick wipe with an alcohol-wetted cloth--or will that just embed them into the shellac itself?
The photo of the paint chunk is to show the dark green whatever that's underlying the paint. I suspect it's some kind of caulk or filler, because I just see that layer in the corners and joints. It's not malleable, but hard, and seems a little less crack-prone than the oil paint. If anybody knows better what that is, and knows how to easily dig it out, you're on my Christmas-card list forever.
Finally, the last picture shows the end-grain side of a board. The paint is much harder to pull off here, of course, and I'm wondering if anybody has any good tips. I don't have any chemical strippers handy, mainly because some of them drive lead out of paint and into the wood itself. That's not an issue here, but it means I don't have any experience with what would be the proper one to use. It might be what I need; the end-grain of the boards, as well as that little strip along the bottom of the baseboard (which used to be behind quarter-round over the linoleum), are really stubbon areas.
Long post, I know, but I appreciate your time and help! Thanks much!
--El Barbón
