Stripping Finish and Cold

levernutt

levernutt

Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
125
I have been planning to strip my 5 and 15 for a while and will soon have some time to do so. There is already a wealth of information on this forum and elsewhere, but one additional question I have is about the effects of cold weather on the process. I would be using a paint stripper (Jasco or something similar), so I could not do this indoors due to the fumes. The temps here have been running between -10 and 10 F degrees pretty consistently. Will the temps impact the process if I leave the coated knife outside for the time it takes the stripping agent to do its thing? Also, as it snows off and on, can I cover the pan, or does the process need uninhibited access to the air?

-Levernutt
 
To me it would seem that the stripper would work ok in cold temps. The can probably tells you the recommend temp to use it at. I did my 16 in the basement, because I did not want to work in the unheated outbuilding. I would just do it inside.
 
The cold weather really gives me worse results than the warm weather. It will kinda work but not nearly as good and will take a lot longer sometimes have to apply it 4 or 5 times.

I stripped about 5 Beckers a few weeks ago and to fight the cold, I did it in my garage near the door and left it open when spraying cause you don't want to breathe the fumes.

I took an old lamp with no shade and put a halogen bulb in it and propped it up upside down to heat the area and the knives. It seemed to work really well.

What worked even better I found was to warm the blades with the light first and make sure the can of paint remover wasn't cold.

Good luck!
 
Heat will speed up the chemical reaction going on there. Best at comfortable room temps. You could strip the blade in your bathroom if you have an exhaust fan. I use citrustrip. It's indoor friendly.
 
CM_Rick said:
Heat will speed up the chemical reaction going on there. Best at comfortable room temps. You could strip the blade in your bathroom if you have an exhaust fan. I use citrustrip. It's indoor friendly.
Click to expand...

Good idea to do it in the bathroom with the fan on. Just check that it is working with a blown out match first.
 
When it's cold in my garage, I've placed a halogen lamp nearby with very good results.
Especially once the blade is out of the stripper. Hang it up, place it by the halogen and just watch as the coating peels off like snake skin! :D
 
Thanks. Unfortunately I don't have a garage or tool shed. I'll check out the citrus option recommended.
 
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