Suggestions on drum sander

[Wes Billups]

My wife and I are in the process of renovating a 100 yr old house and I need some help on deciding how to strip the woodwork. 95% of it has a clear finish. It has all been removed and does not have alot of complicated profiles (rounded over edges). At the time we were removing it I thought we would just send it out to be stripped. Well the quotes are coming back at $1.50/lin ft which equates to well over $1000 for the whole house. Now my options are:

1) Spend the money on a drum sander to sand off the finish and then hit the edges with a chemical stripper or a random orbit sander.

2) Strip all of the woodwork myself (not looking forward to this option).

3) Spend the money on new woodwork (can't afford to reproduce the wide widths).

My question to the experts is would a drum sander perform this function. I really have two questions? Will the finish, which I believe is shellac, gum up a drum sander and would I be better off with an open end design like Performax or the dual drums like Grizzly. I have 6-34" doors and it would be nice to just run them through the sander and then strip the raised panel areas.

Thanks,
Wes

P.S. Need to stay in the $1500 range.

[Richard Wolf]

First, you are right, the paper will clog very fast. You will spend alot of money on paper. The open end design sanders don't alway leave an invisible seam. The grizzly would be a big advantage with the dual drums. I think I would be leaning toward using a planer with blades that you could have sharpened and remove a thin layer of wood. Send the doors out to be stripped.

[Steve Jenkins]

don't even try to mess with a sander. you will get about a foot into the machine and the paper will be clogged. I agree with Richard. planer and strip the doors.

[Brian Hale]

The drum sander sanding strips would clog up right quick.

My first choice would be a "portable" 12" planer with some kind of dust collection and a good dust mask. Cheaper than a drum sander and you'll get a nice finish in no time at all, just be ware of snipe at the beginning and end of the pass.

Brian

[Bruce Page]

Wes, I agree with the others, a small lunchbox planner would be your best bet, just make sure that there are no nails. Some of the new machines have very little, to zero snipe, and you could use a home shop vac if you are only taking light cuts. Consider also, a set of carbide knives, they stay sharper longer, and give a very good finish requiring very little sanding.

[Lance Alldrin]

I had a similiar situation with miles of 2" x 2" heart redwood that had been painted on my patio cover. I checked prices for new stock, over 1000.00 so a 379.00 Home Depot planer looked really good. I bought a couple extra knife sets and away I went. Worked great for paint removal and I'm still using it 4 yrs later for general woodworking.


Lance