Best Stripper Out There........for your wood!!!

If you can find anyone to sell it to you, methylene chloride ( dichloromethane). Quick, clean and not particularily harmful in well ventilated spaces ( despite the reputation, based on flawed research)
 
Depends on the finish you are removing. I have had success with the latest Polycell formulation, but think you will have to experiment. Also consider hot air gun which can be very effective with some finishes. while stripping solid wood such as trim and cappings is relatively easy, removing finishes from large panels such as bulkheads and door fronts needs care as it is all too easy to damage veneers.
 
I use stripper professionally to remove old finishes from cabinet work. The best and cheapest I have found is Paramose spirit based (as opposed to water based). I get mine from Rest Express but you need to sign a waver before ordering. You do need to ensure good air flow as I believe the fumes are potentially dangerous. You may find Paramose elsewhere but Rest Express are an excellent company to deal with.
Apply one coat, leave for a few minutes, then another and immediately clean off old finish with a cabinet scraper (lots of newspaper is recommended). Then a thin coat and coarse wire wool will clean the job back to wood veneer. You can finish with a clean-up of meths with fine wire wool.
Water based Paramose is thicker, like thin wallpaper paste, which doesn't run down work so quickly but cleaning up with water means the possibility of swelling the wood and having to wait for it to dry out before refinishing.
 
Nitromors Works - Not The Best But Readily Available

I used Nitromors to remove years of varnish off my cupboard doors. It gets a bad press on here, an average of 3 stars on some site ratings, but it worked well for me. It took an 8 hour day to prepare all the doors below. Each door took 2 coats of Nitromors and scraping with the grain. I stippled it on quite liberally and after 10 to 15 minutes tried with the scraper; repeat and scrape again. While I was scraping one door another was going through the soaking stage. After scraping I washed in running water, dried, sanded with a fine sandpaper, washed, dried and wiped with a tack cloth. The trick is to apply liberally and be patient. In the mid 1990s I removed paint from a banister with the a previous formulation and it certainly was a lot more aggressive than the new formulation. I will be removing varnish from a bulkhead on a 41' yacht, again years of varnish in layers and will use Nitromors again in about 0.5 square meter sections, as I am happy with the performance. The doors below took just under 2 litres. I bought the 2 litre tin and have small amount left, decant into a small jar with air tight lid and work from that.

Edit - just looked up the cost of Paramose and it is £27 for 5 litres, while Nitromors is about £20 for two litres. I guess I will be switching to Paramose for the bulkhead.

19895841391_6a08e88457_b.jpg


19269941003_5047c525f9_b.jpg


19864650406_95ae8e7aaa_b.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Nitromors Works - Not The Best But Readily Available

I've scraped varnished wood down; my experience is that scrapers of the draw type and cabinet scrapers will get varnish off as well as anything, without any concerns about removing stripper residues. Others here gave me the tip that removing the corner of the scraper will ensure that it doesn't "dig in". A set of diamond hones to constantly sharpen the scraper, and a file for the cabinet scrapers is essential.
 
Re: Nitromors Works - Not The Best But Readily Available

I've just ordered some Starstryp from eBay. It has the fabled missing ingredient, so I have high hopes for it in removing some stove enameling that I need to do.

Before you spend a small fortune on chemical strippers though, do have a go with a hot air gun. That can be almost effortless compared to chemical stripping.
 
If you can find anyone to sell it to you, methylene chloride ( dichloromethane). Quick, clean and not particularily harmful in well ventilated spaces ( despite the reputation, based on flawed research)
They would be unwise to do so. It's only available for approved use because of its toxicity. The HSE information is here.
 
Re: Nitromors Works - Not The Best But Readily Available

As Graham said, most if not all strippers are based on dichloromethane as the active ingredient. So if you can get it, its far cheaper and far more effective than diluted branded stuff. If you need it to strip vertical items then mix if with wallpaper paste for viscosity - thats essentially what the branded stuff is
 
Top