July 1st, 2009

Yesterday I went down to Harbor Freight and bought some bodyworking tools. Hammers, dollies, pliers... well, mostly hammers. On the trip back I stopped into every auto parts store I passed (Carquest, a paint shop, Napa, skipped Advance because I had already looked there, and AutoZone). No one had a flexible cheese grater for shaping Bondo. Everyone has the rigid ones, but I can't come across a flexible one anywhere!

Today, instead of cleaning the house or anything else constructive, I decided to try the chemical paint stripper. Now normally I would set up in the front yard underneath the oak tree, but since I am dealing with the great outdoors, wind currents can never be predicted, so I decided to move a safe distance away from my other cars. Sure, I could have moved the cars a safe distance away, but it was easier just to move the fender.

I set up against the neighbors fence. Now, before you go worrying that I might damage the fence, I assure you that I've taken every caution to be careful not to overspray. At least I did after I got the can pointed in the right direction. The fence itself is rotten enough on its own, and there's moss growing all over it, not to mention that the house has been foreclosed and has been vacant for some time. There was also plenty of room to step away and avoid the fumes. This was especially important because I don't have a respirator and was simply holding my breath during the application.

The immediate results were surprising. The paint started to peel and curl up within just a minute! The instructions had indicated that this would take longer, and a full hour was necessary for the maximum effect. After just three or four minutes, the effect was quite noticeable, as the paint had started bubbling in the entire treated area. At this point, it started looking like it might rain again, so I grabbed the fender by its non-toxic end (as I had only treated the forward third) and put it on my back porch.

I went back to look at it after 20 minutes, and was disappointed to see that it hadn't changed much. After the initial dramatic results I was expecting something a bit more exciting.



Much later in the day I went back and was disappointed to find that it looked about the same as it did after only 20 minutes. After scraping it down with a putty knife and a wire brush, I ended up with this:




I was expecting to get much more paint off than this! I may try one more application, but if that doesn't work, I'll have to go back to more tried and true mechanical means of paint removal.