Best way to get gloss off wood?

korso

korso

korso

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..like the title says. I am trying to get the gloss off all the skirting and door frames around my Grandmothers house, looking to varnish afterwards. However it's literally going to take me forever :(
 
Just be careful you don't scorch the wood if you are going to use varnish afterwards. Wear eye protection, really hot gloss flecks can be nasty if you flick it up with the scraper.
 
Your very unlikely to scorched the wood with a hot air gun, if you keep it about 75mm -100mm away from the wood.

And also wear gloves, very painful getting hot paint flakes on your hands.
 
Nightglow said:
Your very unlikely to scorched the wood with a hot air gun, if you keep it about 75mm -100mm away from the wood.

And also wear gloves, very painful getting hot paint flakes on your hands.
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+1

Hot gloss is something I've had a few encounters with in my renovation. I've stripped back my door frames and stairs but have replaced everything else. If you buy bulk from a wood yard you will be surprised how cheap it is, you could even varnish before installed and save masking everything / burning carpets if there staying down while neat gun'ing.

I paid £138 for my 2 bed house 5" skirting and 3" architrave for every room and door.
 
Some of the old wood is worth cleaning though, some old houses had some real nice timber, much better than the softwood you get nowadays.
 
If you decide to replace the skirting, fix the new with gripfill, does away with the unsightly fixing marks.

Architrave just use panel pin or lost head nails, nice small hole, easy to hide.
 
LiGhTfasT said:
Cheaper and easier to buy new skirting its cheap, i bought all new stuff and was surprised how cheap it was.
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Cheap skirting looks cheap though, under the paint there could be some nice wood in his grannies house.
I fitted black walnut skirting and architrave once and it cost me a few hundred per room, looked absolutely gorgeous though.

Careful of lead based paints OP. But yes, hot air gun is your best bet.
 
Hot air gun and a scraper, if you're good with tools you will find that scraping with the edge of a chisel is quicker and won't peel/dig in to the wood.
 
This is working, slowly because I've got a lot to do, but its an easier job. Think there is around 3/4 layers of gloss on top of each other which is the annoying part.
 
A lot depends on your heat gun, i'm stripping about 8 layers of gloss from some door frames, Bosch hot air flies through it, whereas my other a Clarke hot air gun, is so slow.
 
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I am trying to be extra careful which doesn't help, she only just painted the walls. The hard part is where heating pipes and skirting board meet, taking my sweet time.
 
It helps if you have a fishtail nozzle or a reducer nozzle for your heat gun, helps to concentrate the heat.

Also I have a heat proof mat, plus a piece of backer board file to an edge, to protect the walls, etc when using the gun.
 
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