Removing Paint from Hollow Veneer Interior Door

[jar45]

HI:

I have an interior, hollow veneer door, over 40 years old with two coats of white paint.  I want to remove the paint efficiently with little to no damage to the underlying veneer.  This door is one of three of the same vintage; I have previously removed the paint from the other two.  These two doors with the paint removed now have beautiful exposed veneers under a clear top coat finish. 
I used my ETS 150/3 EQ sander for removing the paint with little to no damage to the veneer. The majority of the paint was removed using 80 – 100 grit and then finial sanding was completed with 120, 150, - 220 grits.  I do find the sanding boring but the end result worth the effort.
I am asking for comments or suggestions to possibly speed up paint removal process.

Thanks
John

 

[AlexThePalex]

I am asking for comments or suggestions to possibly speed up paint removal process.

Sorry, but it seems to me you got this to perfection already. I don't see how you can do this faster. I think I would not even dare to start with anything lower than 100 on a door like this.

Only using a chemical paint stripper might save you some time on the sanding process, but using the stripper itself also takes up time.

 

[TwelvebyTwenty]

I'd be inclined to just go with a heat gun and scraper.

 

[jar45]

Thanks Alex and TwentybyTwenty for the reply.

Appreciate the comments and suggestion.

John

 

[cblanton42]

    A heat gun and scraper really do speed up removal especially if it's thick, but your process is pretty good.  Also, if you have an "Ove Glove" that is used for removing pans from an oven, they will keep you from accidently burning your scraping hand with the heat gun when you get busy.
Good luck! 

 

[Bob D.]

Only issue I see with using a scraper would be what is the skin material of the door?

Is it Lauan or Birch or something else?

Luan is pretty soft and I think would be easy to gouge or damage with a scraper.

 

[AlexThePalex]

and I think would be easy to gouge or damage with a scraper.

Exactly. I would never use this on a veneer door.

 

[Cheese]

I'd go the chemical route with a light touch on the putty knife.

Once you get through the paint and start to see some actual wood, then I'd go to the sander, probably starting with 150 and then move up or down the grits as necessary.

 

[TwelvebyTwenty]

Only issue I see with using a scraper would be what is the skin material of the door?

Is it Lauan or Birch or something else?

Luan is pretty soft and I think would be easy to gouge or damage with a scraper.

Depends on how good a feel you have for it and also which scraper you use. You can buy scrapers that are slightly bellied and slightly rounded at the corners. So unless you're an absolute gorilla with it won't damage the veneer at all.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I am asking for comments or suggestions to possibly speed up paint removal process.

Sorry, but it seems to me you got this to perfection already. I don't see how you can do this faster. I think I would not even dare to start with anything lower than 100 on a door like this.

Only using a chemical paint stripper might save you some time on the sanding process, but using the stripper itself also takes up time.

Just add these

Bluetooth Work Tunes headphones.

 

[jar45]

Thanks for the continual replies.
I began the sanding yesterday starting with 80 grit sanding disk to remove most of the gloss and sheen of the top layer of paint. I used 100 grit sanding disks to remove what looked like the remainder of the top coat of paint.  I tried to avoid sanding through to the veneer, but there were areas where the veneer/varnish was exposed.  Progress was slow but steady.  Including the clear coat, I guess there were 4 layer of coating on the door.

The 120 grit was used to remove most of the paint; down to where the wood grain was visible beneath the remaining paint.  Next using 150 grit I removed even more paint but not what was deep within the wood grain.  The remainder of paint was cleaned off with 180 grit disks and then a final sanding with 220 grit disks.  The first side is completed. . I guess there is 4 hours of my time in removing the coatings from the one side of the door.

One issue that is easy to miss, continuing to use a worn out sanding disk.  I need to balance the cost of the disk to my patience. As I know, once a sanding disk is worn, its effectiveness is significantly reduced.  Also, today, I was tried using my RO90 along an edge of the second side.  Because it is very easy to sand through the paint down to the veneer using the ETS 150 when working close to edges.  I had better control using the RO90 (My First Festool)  on an edge of the door. From the little I use the RO90 today; I think using a RO150 could speed up this project, particularly with removal of the top coats.  The ETS/150 being more of a finish sander is not aggressive as a paint removing tool.
I may post some pictures of this project.
Oh, I did have my Work Tunes Headset listening to my Pandora Stations on Shuffle.  This makes the job almost painless.

John

 

[cblanton42]

and I think would be easy to gouge or damage with a scraper.

Exactly. I would never use this on a veneer door.

Then I'll explain how I've done it, the heat gun does ALL the work, the scraper is just a wide plow that you pull the bubbled paint off of the surface as you go along and sling into a garbage can, no gouging occurs because you don't need to push down if you heat the paint to its bubbling point.  A putty knife works too but is narrow and takes quite a bit longer.  I've stripped a lot by sanding only with a Rotex too and a heat gun is faster on large projects.  Mine happens to be a 45' mahogany Chris Craft so I've done quite a bit 

 

[jar45]

Thanks,
I maybe able to give that a try as there is still a lot of paint to remove.

John

 

[cblanton42]

Hey John, 
If you haven't already started, on Youtube search "paint removal with heat gun".  The video by 21st Century Caveman is worth the 6 minutes and will show you exactly what to do on your door.
P.S.  I'm originally from Independence, KY. just down the street form you.