Old Putty

[Zeeuw]

Hello,
Can anyone tell me how I remove old putty in the seams?
It's very hardened and difficult to remove. I'm afraid to damage the pitch pine planking.
Regards, R.

 

[1937rogerdon]

I need to do the same, a local boat builder told me that the best way was to use a caulking iron to break the old putty into bits, which was then easy or easier to rake out.

 

[joliette]

I've used a chisel and hammer to break old putty away from the edge of the seam, puching it directly into the seam rather than trying to chisel along the length of the seam. When the old putty crumbles you can rake out the debris with a flat blade screwdriver. Working this way takes a little time and care to avoid damaging the edges of the seams.

 

[Peterduck]

Yes. that's right; but you have to be quite light with your caulking mallet when you do this, so that you don't push the cotton too deep into the seam. You're only trying to break the bond between the putty and the wood. You can see when a hairline crack appears at the edge of the seam, and then using a smallish screwdriver tapped lightly along the seam with a small hammer, break out the old, hard putty. On fine seams, I have also used a hooked needle-like O-ring removing tool to remove old putty. I didn't use a hammer with that, though. I just winkled the stuff out by hand.
Peter.

 

[Bosunof]

How much have you got to do? Whole seams of 30 ft length requires something like a real tool. A little bit needs a less formal approach.

I used the tang of a flat file bent to make a scraping tool. Gave a good handle. Flattened the sides on a stone. Certainly now and again a knock will separate the putty from its bond with wood. But.... dont use anything sharp, you dont want to go ahead and damage the seam edges. As stated before you should always take care to ensure that the old caulking will not be pushed through or crammed into the seam.

Chisels are for the toolbox on this type of job.
Cheers

 

[Jwoods]

I thought that getting putty out was a doddle until I tried to rake out some seams on my Falmouth Pilot. These seams are very narrow and although I experimented with a power chisel, the best tool was a patio weeding tool from Yeoman (£1.99). I modified the blade angle with a sanding disk in the angle grinder and used a light hammer to ease out the putty. This tool does enable you to lever the stuff out.

However I decided not to do the whole hull as I won't live that long! I re-caulked some seams with a home made wheel, primed them with Blakes underwater primer and filled in with frame sealer. Its still afloat.....

Best of luck.

 

[ccscott49]

You could try a fein multimaster, with caulking removing blade if you are going to do a lot, also comes in very useful for a multitude of other jobs, wouldnt be without mine.

 

[fantasia7628]

I have used an infra red heater to soften both paint and putty for removal from window frames etc. I don't see why it should not work on hulls too. Here is a link to the suppliers of the kit http://www.irprosystems.co.uk/

 

[Zeeuw]

OK boys and girls, I know a lot more now.
Thank you all for the answers.

 

[Vitalba]

If your putty is as hard as mine you are probably already only a couple of feet along the first seam ! I refer you to my post RAKING OUT SEAMS dated 25/01/2009 (PAGE 22 of the index) and particularly SEANICK`S reply which I have followed, leaving that which was well attached on one side alone. The only exception being where there were short lengths of "attached one or both sides" between the loose stuff. I removed this (with difficulty). My boat is still out of the water and even so I am expecting it will take some time to stabilize once in. Only then will I know if this was the correct solution. If it is, the only disadvantage I can see is that you are unable to firm up the caulking under the putty that has not been removed. Time will tell !
On a general note it is a pity there does not seem to be a method whereby us new boys can find the answers to the "old chestnut problems" without the old hands (god bless `um) having to churn out the same or similar responses every six months or so. VITALBA