Paint removal

[Austin.Wolff]

So, I need to strip either sides of my cabinet of their black paint.  I'm in between paint remover (potent chemical possible of killing me), or using a belt sander.  Anyone have any good experiences with either?

[LiquidFire]

Nix the belt sander. Too great a possibility of harming the surface. A vibrating disk sander would be the best tool after the major amount of paint is gone and the surface dried. You may be able to dry-sand to satisfaction if the paint is not peeling. Otherwise, you have to get all the loose or damaged paint out of the way.

Get a chemical stripper-yes be careful, follow directions, etc. Most of the really *good* ones have been either watered down or banned. Water-based solutions can work well, depending on the coating being removed.

Be ready for a liquid mess, get some chemical gloves and steel wool and a respirator/mask. Work with your surface horizontally if you can.

Follow directions but generally, you paint on the stripper, let stand a few moments, wipe off-you can use a wet towel and wring it out in a bucket with the water-based versions. The steel wool can help break up the loosening paint but let the stripper do the work.

Rinse, repeat. Until you get where you want to be, each application will do a lot or a little depending how much paint is there.

At some point it will be solid enough for finish sanding. Let dry thoroughly. The dust from that is probably worse than the stripper fumes so take precautions.

I would use 150 sandpaper and finish with 220 or better. A vibrating disk sander is very forgiving, just keep it moving. Consider priming after this process. You may want to sand again (and again) after priming if the finish is less than perfect. Have your primer tinted toward the color you will end up with. Example: Prime with dark gray if your final coating is black.

[ScottS]

Here's the thing: many cabinets are made out of medium-density fiberboard (MDF). The worst thing you can do to MDF is get it wet. And stripping with chemicals almost always involves liquids in direct contact with the surface being stripped. My suggestion would be to forget about stripping. Do you strip your house when you paint the outside? No. Do you strip your walls to get down to bare drywall when you paint your room? No.

Here's what you want to do: remove any decals, carefully scrape away any flaking paint, sand the entire cabinet (for God's sake, use a respirator not just a dust mask!), paint with a high-quality primer, sand again if necessary, then paint it the new color. The initial scraping+sanding will ensure that the surface is smooth and that the old paint isn't going to come off. The primer will hide the current black paint, and it will also help prepare the surface for the new color.