Home DIY

i'm going to not rush into doing it

My DIY philosophy in a nutshell. Sometimes I can not rush into things for years.

I don't rush in to finishing things, yeah

Used the same stuff on a shop front last week, decent gear.

Yes, it's highly rated by some trades. Personally I didn't get on with it. Didn't flow very well, not much levelling and at the time expensive where it was available.

It seems to work for some people though.

Didn't flow very well

Yeah it is thick, but I didn't have any problems; that being said it probably did help that I applied it in 30°+ weather...

want to strip this back to a wood finish. Sanding is very slow going and almost useless on the beading. Any suggestions for a chemical stripper? I'm not sure if it's lacquer or varnish or wax. Leaning towards lacquer. Certainly gums up sanding discs well enough.

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Have you tried scraping it? If its soft it might be some sort of wax which will clog up pads. Try a blade and see if it will scrape off before going at it with chemicals?

yeah, I have - with a little success but also with damage to the wood

Wax is the worst of those,, it'll definitely gum up even very low grit paper, it is reversible with white spirit (test on small area loads of it, does it come off on rags etc)- but even white spirit isn't what it was . Having a paint system to go over it (if it is wax) is a tricky manoeuvre

next up would be mentholated spirit then cellulose thinners (but that's a bit 'i pitty the fool') the outlier is clean spirit - a scrubbing brush of sorts (nail brush) or even wirewool will help work it in to then wipe off with rag

A cabinet scraper for the flat parts. You need to learn how to prepare the blade but it's doable with a vice, file and a hardened screwdriver. You could get a curvy one to try on the mouldings but that's going to be tricky.

It doesn't look like it needs much scraping if you could get a primer to stick to it that might be the way to go.

mentholated spirit

hmm .. probably better than doing the job

I don't have a shit vacuum anymore which means I'm reliant on the bolt on filter for my sander.

A mate has a Henry. Is there a risk that sanding paint will fuck it? Are there any other considerations if I'm borrowing it? Like should I buy a new bag or something so they don't risk old paint dust in their house when they use it?

Just want to make sure I'm being a good friend, but I've basically hit the limit of what I can scrape and could really do with a hoover attachment.

Cheers

If paint dust is anything like plaster dust, you'd need to strip it right down and clean it before using again.

The problem with hoover bags is the fine dust clogs the pores. Sanding paint is not as bad as plaster for clogging. A Henry should manage it as long as the bag doesn’t split but it becomes a bit less efficient as the bag get clogged up which might make the motor heat up a bit moire than usual. I think Henry has a thermal cutout, if not you could overheat it. My hoover (not Henry) will turn off after about an hour of sanding in summer heat.

Plaster and brick dust can be fine enough to travel through the bags and motor which can prematurely wear the motor out.

I've been using our Henry as a site vac for the past year so have to disagree with this!

Occasionally had to shake the filter out but it's swallowed ~120 years worth of dust from between the floors, a lot of lime plaster, bonding and plaster dust, a shit load of sawdust and all kinds of crap and it just keeps on trucking.

Are there any other considerations if I'm borrowing it? Like should I buy a new bag or something so they don't risk old paint dust in their house when they use it?

Buy a new filter and bag and give it a clean out inside. You might not even need the filter but it would be polite nonetheless.

I think Henry has a thermal cutout, if not you could overheat it.

It does, if this happens you can just change the bag and wait for it to cool down. You can tell it's coming though as it gives out a lot more heat.

Plaster and brick dust can be fine enough to travel through the bags and motor which can prematurely wear the motor out.

The filter protects the motor.

To some extent yes. I think the Henry is a decent option from the home hoover selection but a decent work hoover should have M class protection which is provided by the filter and the bag.

The filter on the Henry is not fine enough for brick dust which can be extremely fine. Wood and paint dust L class is sufficient.

The big M class hoovers that Festool rebadge specifically for their 225mm head plaster sanders have a special feature that shakes the bag (violently) to release the dust from the pores of the bag to ensure constant suction and an audible warning signal if suction drops below a set point.

Nothing against using the Henry but you can’t expect it to filter out fine brick dust.

A work vac definitely makes more sense and I had presumed I'd need to get one, but our Henry is old and keeps doing the job. I guess worst case is we eventually replace the motor, but it has seen a LOT of dust over the past year as we've gone back to brick/joists and is still fine, so I think @hugo7 briefly using his friend's for paint dust will be ok.

Obviously I'd love a Festool hoover but I'd love a Festool everything!

I picked up a titan hoover and its been doing areat job, wasnt much.

Yeah we have one too, has had 5 years of real abuse

I had a big draper one for 10 years pro use and that was no more sophisticated than the Henry, just bigger with an auto start funtion which was a huge upgrade for me at the time.

Over the last 20 years I've managed to amass 4 Festool hoovers of various sizes and they are fine but they all annoy me on a daily basis for one reason or another.

I agree that using one for DIY it should be fine.

I need a laser level. Seems theyre 50 - 500. Anyone got one they'd recommend on the 50-100 end.