We are sanding this windows edge to refinish the wood and needs some tips on it. Does anyone have any ideas or tricks on how to sand down the paint without damaging the routed edge?
Posted Oct 19, 2019, 11:44 PM UTC
Are you repainting or trying to get down to bare wood?
We are open to both, but my husband would like to get it down to bare wood to see if there’s damage.
Obligatory "lead paint is no joke" warning here. Test it. Protect yourself and your family.
Then your best bet is to use a chemical stripper.
They have citrus and soy based strippers that are nontoxic and work fairly well.
Once you apply the stripper, you will need a variety of plastic scrapers; I found plastic putty knives, auto body bondo tools, and cheap kitchen utensils work pretty well. Resist the temptation to use metal tools, they can do a world of damage in a hurry.
They do sell powered "profile" sanders that are like a normal non-orbital sander, but it comes with a box of various shaped attachments that allow you to sand in weird profiles. But that should be done at the end, just to smooth out any scruffies that result from the stripper. Personally, I just use sanding sponges.
We have started with the stripper and got it down to this “great” seafoam green color but my husband grabbed a lot of the other stuff you suggested. It’s midnight here and this “little” project isn’t so little anymore.
I have a Fein Multimaster Kit that includes the profile sanding blocks. I have stripped tons of baseboard and frames like you are showing in no time flat with it. It’s not cheap, but in the end a very versatile tool.
There are sanding shapes which have various curves to match molding. Its hand sanding but its an option. I just dont remember what they are called
If you’re using an oscillating sander, you can usually find the manufacturer sells a thick soft interface pad you can put between the sander and the sandpaper. If doing it by hand, cut a piece of sponge (without the scrubber) and put that behind the paper when sanding.
Sanding sponges work pretty good and don’t totally destroy the shape you are working with.
I’ve found this set incredibly useful when scraping off paint which has been softened by stripper.
https://www.amazon.com/Hyde-Tools-Available-10450-Changeable/dp/B000W65L7E/
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Thank you all for your suggestions. We used stripper and stripper wash. Then we sanded the crevices to get a lot of the gunk out.
We counted 9 layers of paint on this window before we got to the wood but are happy with then end result! We were unable to get all the green paint off so we will end up painting it after we finish caulking.
We plan on repeating the process throughout the house because all the windows are like this but will go about it a different way because this was way more of a pain than expected.
Make scrapers to match the molding, one curve at a time. Sand after that with folded paper.
As we say on Reddit: Came here to say this!