I stand by my headline-this heat gun is the BEST way to strip paint. I just recently discovered this little tool and I LOVE it. It works so well.
I have tried all sorts of methods to strip paint and I think this is my favourite. Check out this video of the process below:
You can see here where the paint is bubbling and how neatly it came off. The dark brown underneath is stain and will come off with a good sanding.
Yes, you could slather it with paint stripper, but I find that this is not nessicarily faster. You have to do a lot of prep work, you have to be outside or in a well ventilated area (you do not want paint stripper in the house, trust me…the smell is nashty). Sometimes you might have to apply it three or four times depending on how thick the paint is, and if it gets on your skin it burns. You just have to be careful when using it. I find it a very unpleasant job and just would rather not.
Sanding paint off-well that doesn’t really work. It clumps up on the sandpaper and you don’t get anywhere.
I have had some luck pressure washing, but this is not consistent and can damage wood. So also not really ideal.
But this heat gun! It’s so good. You just point it at the paint and slowly move it up while scraping the paint.
I like that I can start and stop whenever I want with no prep work and that I could even (ahem, don’t tell my husband) do it in the basement. Game changer! That means I don’t just have three months of summer to strip furniture, I can so it anytime I want!
I live in Canada, so this is a big deal. The amount of time during the year when I can do this outside is limited, and summer is very busy. Usually it’s during the colder months that I start looking to do furniture projects, but it’s impossible to strip inside.
This heat gun is going to give me flexibility to do it whenever, plus I don’t have to use stripper. It’s a game changer for sure. So much easier!