Planing painted lumber

[MarvinWatkins]

I have a pine shelf that I pull out of our laundry room when we installed some cabinets for more organized storage. This is your standard pine shelving board painted (or more accurately primed) white. It is currentyly just standing in my wood-caddy.

Since it is about 12"x1"x8', I wouldn't mind reusing it. Does anyone have any thoughts about the pros and cons of running that board through my planer as is? I wouldn't mind having the board at 5/8" or even 1/2". I'm just not very excited about striping the paint off of the board. ;-)

Since there are no nails in it, that is not a concern. Would running a painted board through the planer do anything to dull or damage the blades? ...or gum up the planer?

Should i just punt and send this one to the landfill? :roll: I don't particularly care for that idea.

Thanks for your help!

 

[mshel]

If the paint is just a interior latex, I wouldn't be that concerned about it doing damage to the blades. Just my .02. Now if it were oil based and had been on the wood for a long time, I would opt to either strip the paint off or just use it for a shelf in the shop and get a clear piece to use.

MIke

 

[Ray Martin]

Marvin,

How about loading the random orbital sander with some 100 or 120 grit and taking off the paint? I'd strongly reccommend a mask... even if I knew the paint had no lead in it...

Ray

 

[Splinter]

If the paint is just a interior latex, I wouldn't be that concerned about it doing damage to the blades. Just my .02. Now if it were oil based and had been on the wood for a long time, I would opt to either strip the paint off or just use it for a shelf in the shop and get a clear piece to use.

MIke

I agree with Mike. I have planed painted pine closet shelving boards with no problem BUT I have nicked my planer blades with a board with old hard oil base paint with two - three layers of paint.
My .02.

 

[MarvinWatkins]

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to go for it. The house is less than 10 years old, so lead is not an issue. I don't think the developers where apt to splurge for oil base paint. Like I said, I don't think it is much more than primed.

Thanks all!

 

[McRabbet]

If it is multiple layers of paint, I would remove the majority with a hand-held belt sander with an open grit belt (I've used 24 grit to remove paint very successfully with my old 3 x 21 belt sander) and then either plane it or continue with progressively finer belts. If it is just primed, 50 grit will take it off easily.

Rob

 

[vorlon666]

I would think that if you plane off more than the thickness of the paint on the first pass, the blades won't actually come in very much contact with the paint - they will bite into the wood and break through the paint surface from below.

 

[PeteM]

Just curious. What do you guys have against paint stripper. For a flat board like that it's much easier and less harmful to the wood than a belt sander. Just lay down a cheap drop cloth, scrape off the residue and throw the whole mess away. Rinse off the board and when it's dry a little RO sanding and it's ready to go.

pete

 

[frigator]

I have never had a single problem planing painting lumber. I have run hundreds of board bd of old cypress siding through a planer with over 50yrs of paint on it, most it oil based. The only thing I worry about is broken off nails.

There is no way I would mess with stripper or sanding, just send it through and be done with it.

 

[grumpy]

It's been a long while since I been in that pattern shop but We never used the planer for anything except clear wood and definately before sanding. The sanding would be worse than the paint. My old AMT is still on the first set of blades because I don't do neighbors board restorations. I still am not looking forward to changing blades. Sanding is the last thing you do. It's hard on tools. Harry

 

[Mark Anderson]

i too have planed a lot of paited boards with no problem, just take a cut that is deeper than the paint and you will be cutting up through the paint as said before.