Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Planing painted wood question
Barry Irby
I have about 25 Western Red Cedar 1 x 6's about 3' long that are painted with peeling latex paint. They used to be part of my deck rail. Is it a good idea to run them through my planer just to remove the paint? Seems I have read paint is very hard on planer knives. How about running them through as the "last thing" before sharpening the knives and finish killing the knives? Seems a shame to throw the cedar away.
Re: Planing painted wood question
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
Paint is delustered with a heavy load titanium oxide. It is an abrasive. Planing painted wood would be like running sandpaper through the planer. It will be the lumber edges where the damage will be severe. Here the knives will be cutting into paint. On the surface the knives will be coming from beneath the paint layer, more or less.
I'd try a wire brush first. Don't know if it would work. Or saw off the edges with a disposable blade.
Re: Planing painted wood question
Ralph Lipeles
If you are willing to sacrifice some thickness I'd cut a little off each surface then plane. Cut half the height and about 1/32" deep. Then flip the board and do the same cut from the other edge of the board. You'd be cutting mostly wood so the paint should not have much of an adverse effect on the blade.
Re: Planing painted wood question
Bill Howatt
I use a stationary belt sander with a coarse belt to remove surface garbage before planning. So far stuff has been fairly short so the sander bed length hasn't been too much of a problem. A portable belt sander would likely be better on longer items.
Bill
Re: Planing painted wood question
John McGaw
I've planed painted/finished wood without worry over the years. Even if it does diminish the blades' lifespan, blades are meant to be sharpened or replaced so what if I lose a few percent. There are a number of woods that contain lots of silica and dull blades and more than contain resins that gum them up. If we based our planing practices on that we might never do any woodworking. Just my $0.02 of course, but there is a reason I installed flippable/replaceable blades on my Robland.
Re: Planing painted wood question
pecker
Why not just store them as is. If a time comes you need a couple, just deal with those...through a quick belt sand, then plane.
Or you may find you never use them at all.