A lesson in stripping paint

Just thought I'd post up a few words of wisdom...or hard lessons as it may be.

Through all the weeks of working on baseboards I feel like I have tried a dozen things to make stripping paint work.  The orange citristrip seems to work but is messy and is still a paint striping chemical.  Although I still think it's a good product if you really want to get the job done it's not the quickest, and is certainly temperamental.

That little triangle pointy tool on the right there...that guy can strip some paint in a WHOLE lot less time than any brush on nonsense.. That whole door frame took less than an hour and a half for both sides. For stripping paint on wood..my new best friend.

Now for metal, that is a whole different story.  We had this hardware on the front closet door that is pretty old.  Nice solid mortise lock set. But it, like everything else, has 3-4 layers of paint on it.

Inside the lockset was actually really clean. Found part of a broken skeleton key, a plastic pearl, and a reather old scrabble piece.

At least I get to use my camp stove for something.

I came across the best discovery I could have ever made in regards to stripping paint off of metal parts.  I neglected to get any pictures of the hardware before I started the process but you can see in the pot the parts are a heavy white / cream color.  bought an old pot from salvation army for a few bucks, add water, baking soda, and boil.  half hour later start removing.  The paint just peels right off in heavy layers.  After about an hour with a wire with this, a plastic tool, and a wire brush......

No more paint!! Brass darkening solution to come soon....

Toodles.....