Stripping Paint with an Infrared Machine

We spotted some videos online of people using a heat or infrared device to strip paint. Instead of slathering chemicals over the paint, these devices supposedly heat the paint and allow for easier separation.

There’s still some detail work that needs to be done, but if this thing works as advertised… it should save a ton of time. We decided to roll the dice on getting one of these guys (they’re expensive), but if it does what it claims… it’ll be worth the price of admission.

The device, heating up. Liz did some test runs with mixed results. In the area she worked on, the wood is showing two distinctly different colorings – so we’re not sure if the wood has been accidentally burned in the process, or if the wood is just colored in this way.

The only thing we can do now is test a similar stretch using the conventional method, and compare. We’ve got a 14 day return period on this guy, so we’ll be doing more tests to see whether it’s worth keeping or not. Jury’s still out on this one right now, until we can try it out more.

Related:
Stripping Wood at the New House