Refinishing help

[RADuffy]

I am getting ready to refinish some rather large wood doors. They have layers of paint and stain on them that go back years. The doors are 50-60 years old and I bet they've never been properly refinished. I have the RO 150 and the CT Midi that I just bought yesterday, my first Festools. I am wondering how high does my dust extractor need to be turned up to properly remove the dust. I have heard that you do not want it too high, but how high is too high?

 

[iamnothim]

Welcome Duff !

I'm a novice and I have an ETS 150/3
Some materials I can set my CT Midi to full power and some only 1/3.
My experience,

Heavy removal has been full power.
Sanding between coats of lacquer has been 1/3.  Any higher and the sander digs in and chatters.

 

[chrisrosenb]

I would recommend stripping the the doors instead of sanding.

Old paint can gum up sandpaper very quickly.

If you do sand them, start out with the vac at about half speed & increase speed if needed.

Also wear a good respirator. Old paint contains lead.

 

[RADuffy]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about the lead issues, good call. I will make sure I do that.

 

[iamnothim]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about the lead issues, good call. I will make sure I do that.

Good call on stripping.

I just used a product called SOY-Gel.
Negligible Fumes
It worked quite  well on lacquer and stain.  I have not tried paint, but it's supposed to work well on multi-layers of paint.
I dabbed it on. Waited 5 min. and scraped it off. Only needed a second application in a few grooves.
Wipe clean with a damp rag.

It made an awful task more than tolerable.  I only had to deal with the goo.  Not the chemicals.

I was very skeptical but I always try new stuff.  This one worked for me.

 

[chrisrosenb]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about the lead issues, good call. I will make sure I do that.

Good call on stripping.

I just used a product called SOY-Gel.
Negligible Fumes
It worked quite  well on lacquer and stain.  I have not tried paint, but it's supposed to work well on multi-layers of paint.
I dabbed it on. Waited 5 min. and scraped it off. Only needed a second application in a few grooves.
Wipe clean with a damp rag.

It made an awful task more than tolerable.  I only had to deal with the goo.  Not the chemicals.

I was very skeptical but I always try new stuff.  This one worked for me.

Soy-Gel works great on paint also.

 

[Slartibartfass]

You should also consider if you want to paint the door again or potentially stain.

The paint stripper is great in case you repaint but might pose a problem for staining as the chemicals might prevent an even penetration of the stain into the wood.

I used a hot air gun in the past. Not pleasant work.... Malte

 

[RADuffy]

Does SOY-gel work on vertical surfaces? The doors that we are refinishing are good sized, I believe they are 6'0 seven foot double, there are 4 sets of them and I do not know if we will be able to remove them from the hinges. I decided to go the sanding route because of this.

 

[RADuffy]

The doors will be painted, not stained.

 

[iamnothim]

Does SOY-gel work on vertical surfaces? The doors that we are refinishing are good sized, I believe they are 6'0 seven foot double, there are 4 sets of them and I do not know if we will be able to remove them from the hinges. I decided to go the sanding route because of this.

Soy-Gel is a very thick goo.  Running is minimal on vertical surfaces.
You'll apply it in sections, not all at once.

 

[Motown]

I am finally wrapping up a year long project of removing 3 coats of paint off of original woodwork and while I've had some hits and misses along the way I've also picked up a few tricks. As you are going to re-paint you could use either heat, paint stripper or a combination of both. Just a heads up if you think you have lead paint...heating paint past 875 degrees will make it toxic so gel might be the way to go if you don't want to buy a fancy heater for just one door.

One of the best investments I made was purchasing high quality scrapers, these were just awesome for me: http://www.amazon.com/Bahco-Premium-Ergonomic-Carbide-Scraper/dp/B000288LOW

The trick is to not to put too much pressure while scraping, that way you can avoid extra sanding. Good luck.