3000 Followers Event - DIY paint removal tips

~ DIY Tip Day ~

I will NEVER profess to be an expert on this topic, so right here and now, I ask any experts in this field to come on down!

I had this cool farm table that I had painted white. But then I wanted a woodsy top. You know how it is.

Well, this was no small job. I was using my palm sander and getting nowhere fast. So I borrowed a wood planer. (thanks Default Nice Guy Dan!)

And that's when things REALLY started to happen. LOVE the thing!! I want one. :)

Although the planer did a MUCH more efficient job, it was still working too hard.

So back to the hardware store I went and picked up some paint stripper. And soon found a method that worked.

 How to strip paint off a table top:

1. Remove as much paint as you can first with paint stripper

There were at least 4 coats of paint on this tabletop, so I kept using the stripper until I reached the wood. It was ALOT of work. Really consider how bad you want a large table to be wood again because knowing what I do, I'm not sure I'd do this again. The paint stripper alone ran me around $30.

2. Follow up with a wood planer

If you're still only using your palm sander for sanding down finishes, you are missing out BIG. The wood planer does the job 20x faster and more efficient. It's a palm sander on steroids. So... if you plan to do alot of paint stripping, put a wood planer on your shopping list.

 3. Finish with a palm sander, starting at 60 grit, 150 grit, then finally 220 grit

I canNOT believe the difference. I've never purchased 3 grits before but the Internet says to do that so I tried. And oh my gosh... wonderfully smooth it was!

4. Then borrow from you know who grab some wood chisels and start stripping in between the boards.

5. Enjoy your newly sanded lovely woodsy table top!

6. That didn't even get a finishing treatment because you changed your mind and build something else instead. After all that work...

I'm almost certain there are better methods out there than what I did. So if you've done this before and have anything to add, please do so in comments!

By golly, let me go one step further. If you have a post that is all about HOW you stripped furniture, I invite you to link it up so we have all the reference we can muster!

Sanding tips? Removing paint methods? What method works best for you? What do we want to stay away from? 

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