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There may be times when you accidentally paint your new wooden floor with the wrong color or want to remove part of the paint from some wooden panel to replace it with a new color. There are many ways you can do that, but not all of them are the recommended methods. You could simply take a sharp flat piece of metal and have a go at scraping the paint off. However, this would be one of those methods that are not advisable because you risk scratching the wood and spoiling the finish that you worked so hard to get. There are also situations where all you want to do is clean out a speck of paint, but end up doing damage not only to the wood but also to the previous coat of paint in the surrounding areas. Since it is always best to avoid these troubling situations, this article will present you with some tips on how to remove paint from wood.

Tips On Removing Paint From Wood

Since paint removal is not something limited to only fresh paint jobs, these tips will help you with removing paint from wood even after you have had the same paint on for a few years.
  • The best way to remove paint is to use a heat gun. All you need is the heat gun and a putty knife. Once you have the wood firmly supported, start heating a small area of the wood till the paint heats up and blisters start forming on it. Once the blisters form, all you have to do is to gently scrape them off the wood with the putty knife. Just remember not to touch the wood with the heat gun or you might leave scorch marks on the wood.
  • If you don’t have the services of the heat gun available to you, then you could also use a putty knife or a paint scraper to scrape the paint off the wood. This method is generally used if you need to remove only the top part of the previous paint job. Using this method will not result in complete paint removal.
  • You can even use sand paper, sanding block or a sanding sponge to remove the paint. Other tools available to you are the orbital sanders and belt sanders. These two machines also use sand paper, but since they work in small circles or a back and forth motion, they don’t carry the risk of leaving circular indentations on the wood. You would be smart if you avoided any rotary drill attachments, water blasting or sandblasting since they are likely to damage the finish of the wood.
  • If you want to go in for none of the mechanical methods, you can always go in for the chemical solution. Using solvent-base or caustic products that are available in the market can also help you get rid of the paint. This method helps the most when you need to repaint a window frame and are scared that any abrasive method would damage the glass. All you will need to do is to apply paint remover or stripper on the paint and then remove the sludge with a putty knife.

Removing paint without damaging the wood is not an easy task, but these tips will help make it just a bit easier.