Is it okay to use a planer to remove paint off otherwise great lumber? Was wondering if it gums up planer blades, or is otherwise harmful. The paint is not lead-based. Thanks! Chuck
Use of Planer to Remove Paint
- Thread starter Nature Man
- Start date
You can. You'll dull the blades extremely fast. Be prepared to trash them.
Yes. I have used that and my jointer many times to remove old finish, works great, I never noticed any dulling of my blades, but I have Byrd carbide heads.....
Chuck, I've done it with my Dewalt lunchbox planer. As said above, it will dull the blades if you just have straight ones but it works no problem.
Consider a powered hand planer. Blade are much cheaper and easier to replace.
I borrowed my neighbors hand planer when I redid my deck. Some of the joist needed leveling. But one thing I learned is I needed to make sure there were no hidden nails or screws before I ran that planer. I would think the same lesson applies when you're working on a painted board and you can't see what's under the paint. That little hand planer was awesome - it really sped up the process.
I bought an almost new 15" delta for cheap. he had bought it to refresh his deck boards. was a small deck but the sand in crevices dulled blades fast. Told me it worked great at first but did not feed well nor put a nice finish at end of deck project. so I bought as a broken planer. I bought new set of blades and of course it worked perfect. my long time sharpen guy asked me what I was planing. he said machine should not be ran with blades that dull. he got a good laugh at how they got that way.
a set of blades is worth the time saved in planing to get paint off. Just my opinion.
Good point about the finish quality, Mike. I wasn't too worried about that but if I remember correctly, there were some edges and chips where I started or stopped, etc. I suspect if the board is wider than the blade width you'd have the same concern if you let the planer tilt at all. Good set up with minimal cut should help.