Tool for removing old poly finish and leveling tabletop?

[Victor Robinson]

I've been building my first workbench (finally!). For the top I'm going to use the top off an old butcherblock dining room table from Ikea left over from our college days. At some point, we had decided to stain/finish the thing with ugly Minwax stain/poly combo brushed on. Just for the record, this was before I knew ANYTHING about finishing, woodworking, etc.

So now I'd like to repurpose this tabletop and it's certainly better than MDF for my bench. I've been trying to get the old finish off. I've tried my handplanes, but it's slow and occasionally gouges the surface (I have cheap planes and though sharpened, they've got other issues). The ROS with 60 grit is fairly ineffective as you might guess.

I'm thinking of just heading to the borg and picking up a belt sander or power planer. Any recs? Cheaper alternatives? Other methods? Should I even bother with buying 40grit (much coarser than anything I ever use) on the ROS?

I should probably just get a good card scraper...

[Eric Gustafson]

I've been building my first workbench (finally!). For the top I'm going to use the top off an old butcherblock dining room table from Ikea left over from our college days. At some point, we had decided to stain/finish the thing with ugly Minwax stain/poly combo brushed on. Just for the record, this was before I knew ANYTHING about finishing, woodworking, etc.

So now I'd like to repurpose this tabletop and it's certainly better than MDF for my bench. I've been trying to get the old finish off. I've tried my handplanes, but it's slow and occasionally gouges the surface (I have cheap planes and though sharpened, they've got other issues). The ROS with 60 grit is fairly ineffective as you might guess.

I'm thinking of just heading to the borg and picking up a belt sander or power planer. Any recs? Cheaper alternatives? Other methods? Should I even bother with buying 40grit (much coarser than anything I ever use) on the ROS?

I should probably just get a good card scraper...

Are you against using stripper to get the poly off then sanding?

[Victor Robinson]

Are you against using stripper to get the poly off then sanding?

Hey Eric,
Yeah I'd rather not go the stripper route if I can avoid it - my workspace isn't well-ventilated (yay city-living!). Plus now I have to remove a fair amount of material anyways thanks to the gouges I made with my crappy planes.

[ken gibbs]

I've been building my first workbench (finally!). For the top I'm going to use the top off an old butcherblock dining room table from Ikea left over from our college days. At some point, we had decided to stain/finish the thing with ugly Minwax stain/poly combo brushed on. Just for the record, this was before I knew ANYTHING about finishing, woodworking, etc.

So now I'd like to repurpose this tabletop and it's certainly better than MDF for my bench. I've been trying to get the old finish off. I've tried my handplanes, but it's slow and occasionally gouges the surface (I have cheap planes and though sharpened, they've got other issues). The ROS with 60 grit is fairly ineffective as you might guess.

I'm thinking of just heading to the borg and picking up a belt sander or power planer. Any recs? Cheaper alternatives? Other methods? Should I even bother with buying 40grit (much coarser than anything I ever use) on the ROS?

I should probably just get a good card scraper...

I use a hand held Dewalt power planer, 60 grit belt sander, and sand up through the grits. I have tried several strippers and none have worked so far on Urethane. It took about eight hours to strip, sand and stain my round 42" table top that was deeply gouged likely caused by kids cutting through the finish to the wood with stake knives. I think I took off about 3/16" to get all of the gouges and cuts out of the wood. I am up to eight coats of new urethane after staining. It is not a project that you can make money off of because I constantly think that more coats followed by steel wool will make it look better. So I keep adding layers and using steel wool between coats. I expect that another ten layers will make this table look like a heritage item.

[Victor Robinson]

I use a hand held Dewalt power planer, 60 grit belt sander, and sand up through the grits. I have tried several strippers and none have worked so far on Urethane. It took about eight hours to strip, sand and stain my round 42" table top that was deeply gouged likely caused by kids cutting through the finish to the wood with stake knives. I think I took off about 3/16" to get all of the gouges and cuts out of the wood. I am up to eight coats of new urethane after staining. It is not a project that you can make money off of because I constantly think that more coats followed by steel wool will make it look better. So I keep adding layers and using steel wool between coats. I expect that another ten layers will make this table look like a heritage item.

Ken,
You used both a planer and belt sander? Think there's anyway I can get away with just one of those. I already have a ROS. I was hoping I could make it a quickie cheapie tool purchase...

[Simon Dupay]

I get a belt sander like a PC 4x24 and sand it off, much easier then a power planer to use. Don't get a cheap one they won't have enough power.

[Dan Forman]

Card scraper should work, and be the cheapest. Belt sanders can do some damage in a hurry if you aren't used to working with them. An alternative would be something like this, with a circular motion as well as ROS. http://www.google.com/products/catal...wAg#ps-sellers

I suspect that this coupled with 60 grit would get the job done pretty quickly, then go back to your ROS to go through the rest of the grits. The more aggressive mode can be pretty hard to control, but it's good for rough work.

Dan

[Mike Cruz]

Rather than buying a planer or belt sander, you could go to your local Borg (or any tool rental store) and rent a floor sander. Start with a really rough grit...24 or 36, and work up to 80 or 100. Do the rest with your ROS.

If you have never used a floor sander, there are 3 kinds that you can get (at least one of my local Borgs has 3 different kinds...). The first is a large belt sander. If you have never used one, I don't reccommend trying this one. It can be very aggressive, difficult to handle, and you will likely not end up with anything near flat. The second type is a large ROS pad. Not a bad choice, but also not my favorite. The third, my favorite, is one that uses 4 ROS's. Either of these (choice 2 or 3) should work well. Of course, you do need to vent your shop and wear a mask if you are going to sand the poly off...really...

You should be able to rent the sander and buy the sanding discs for about $60.

[Jason White]

Paste stripper (methyl chloride).

Open all the windows and wear a respirator and gloves. Scrape it off with a wide putty knife. Works very fast.

Jason

I've been building my first workbench (finally!). For the top I'm going to use the top off an old butcherblock dining room table from Ikea left over from our college days. At some point, we had decided to stain/finish the thing with ugly Minwax stain/poly combo brushed on. Just for the record, this was before I knew ANYTHING about finishing, woodworking, etc.

So now I'd like to repurpose this tabletop and it's certainly better than MDF for my bench. I've been trying to get the old finish off. I've tried my handplanes, but it's slow and occasionally gouges the surface (I have cheap planes and though sharpened, they've got other issues). The ROS with 60 grit is fairly ineffective as you might guess.

I'm thinking of just heading to the borg and picking up a belt sander or power planer. Any recs? Cheaper alternatives? Other methods? Should I even bother with buying 40grit (much coarser than anything I ever use) on the ROS?

I should probably just get a good card scraper...

[Jason White]

Another vote for the "U-Sand" floor sanding machine (the one with 4 ROS pads)! Will definitely take the poly off. I've used it before and it works great if you don't need serious material removal. They rent them at Home Depot.

Maybe start with 50 or 80 grit to see if its cuts through the poly easily (I'd avoid the 24 or 36 grit unless you have gouges you want to remove). You're less likely to screw up the wood with this type of floor sander than with the old style "belt" or "drum" floor sander.

Another way to go -- if you know a friend with a Festool ROTEX sander, just borrow it and use some 40-grit "Cristal" or "Saphir" paper. Will cut through the poly like butter.

Jason

Rather than buying a planer or belt sander, you could go to your local Borg (or any tool rental store) and rent a floor sander. Start with a really rough grit...24 or 36, and work up to 80 or 100. Do the rest with your ROS.

If you have never used a floor sander, there are 3 kinds that you can get (at least one of my local Borgs has 3 different kinds...). The first is a large belt sander. If you have never used one, I don't reccommend trying this one. It can be very aggressive, difficult to handle, and you will likely not end up with anything near flat. The second type is a large ROS pad. Not a bad choice, but also not my favorite. The third, my favorite, is one that uses 4 ROS's. Either of these (choice 2 or 3) should work well. Of course, you do need to vent your shop and wear a mask if you are going to sand the poly off...really...

You should be able to rent the sander and buy the sanding discs for about $60.

[John Piwaron]

I had to do that not so long ago.

I used a heat gun and a wide blade putty knife to get the bulk of the varnish off then followed with 120grit on a ROS and then 220. It worked just fine without a lot of smell from chemical strippers.

FWIW, I do like chemical strippers, but they're not always necessary.

One other thing - I don't know that I'd be too worried about those gouges you speak of. Even if you get a beautiful pristine surface on that top, it won't be so long and it'll have various knicks, gouges and scrapes from whatever work you do on it. My own bench was a beautiful work of art when I finished it. After years of use it doesn't look that way anymore. But it's still great.

[Pat Germain]

How wide is the bench top? If it's not too wide for a lunchbox planer, that's the route I would take. You're going to use a planer for future woodworking anyway, right?

If it's in your budget, I recommend buying something like the RIDGID planer. The advantage here is the blades on a lunchbox planer are disposable. If they get gunked up and chipped from the benchtop it's no big deal. So, run your benchtop through the planer as many times as it takes, shaving off just a little at a time, until the surface is as you like it. Then remove the blades, throw them away and install a new set.

After this procedure, you'll have a very nice, flat benchtop with minimal effort and a nice, new planer with new blades.

[Ellen Benkin]

I'd find a lumberyard of some kind and pay hem to run it through their planer a couple of times. Spend your time planing the building process not worrying about getting the old finish off.

[john bateman]

Did you apply the Minwax to the underside also? If not, maybe just flip it over and use the bottom as your top.

[Prashun Patel]

I'd use a card scraper. You'll have to learn how to sharpen and roll a burr on it, but honestly, with a mill file and a screw driver, you can make a sharp enough hook to make short work of your stripping. Learning to scrape is a fantastic thing that'll serve you well for finer finishing as well...