Paint Stripping

[jpyke]

I'm in the middle of repainting the cast iron frame in my grand piano as part of the restoration I'm doing.

I spent the whole day Saturday carefully rubbing down the existing gold paintwork and then applied 3 coats of Halfords grey primer and 2 coats of Halfords "Nissan gold".

This was a very unwise decision... oddly enough 1936 gold paint is not compatible with whatever the modern Halfords stuff is (acrylic?). Anyway, it's reacted and split all over the place.

I'm now faced with the prospect of stripping it all back off to the bare metal. The only thing I can think of is Nitromors but that's going to be expensive and it's rather nasty stuff to use in that sort of quantity.

Does anyone have any better ideas? I.e. are there better chemicals out there that I could use? (I'd be worried about using heat because of the vapours that would come off).

Thanks

[Moraystag]

imported post

In the past I have undertaken some intricate paint and varnish removal and although the n Nitromors is pretty lethal stuff, I have used a lump of wire wool and gently apply it and then wait a while and rubb like hell. It's a total bitch but it gives you a wee bit more control of where it goes. Try masking off all the bits you don't want the Nitormrs on, appart from that I can't help mate

[Greenstag]

imported post

You could try a waterbased paint remover

http://www.trade1st.co.uk/productdet...mover/150.aspx

Other makes are available

[jpyke]

imported post

Thanks for the suggestions chaps

I think there is going to be a lot of hard work ahead for me

... still, probably not as nerve-wracking as carving new bridges!

[StagnJag]

imported post

I don't know the intricacy of the part you are cleaning up, but what about a Dremel with a flap wheel in it?

[jpyke]

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Well that will be good for the fiddly bits where there are pins in the frame for the strings to go onto, but there are also large flat expanses that would take ages.

I've ordered some samples of commercial paint stripping solutions so fingers crossed!