got any hobbies??

[Harpoon]

Re: i need some help!!

i am trying to find an easy way of removing the finish off of bowling pins.
i need to get them down to the bare wood for some more crafts.

i worked on one pin, i had to strip off the outside layer of acrylic. that was fairly easy. then there is the layer of plastic/fiberglass which has a cloth mesh against the wood itself. i have tried different drill attachments and wire strippers, and wire brushes but found lots, and i mean LOTS, of heavy duty paint stripper helped. then i used a wood chisel to shave off the plastic/fiberglass layer and used an electric sander on the cloth mesh to get to the wood.
anyone have a better and easier way?

If you can lay your hands on some toluene, it might work, it disolves most plastics, they use it in manufacturing vinyl and related products...you need something that will disolve polyester. Most fibreglass resins are polyester based. Hope it helps, good luck

 

[batter]

harpoon

sounds great....thankyou!!

 

[batter]

Harpoon, could not find any toluene so i had to rely on the use of a gel paint and varnish remover. i put a good dose of it on the bowling pins and left it for a few hours and to my surprise, a whole lot of stuff came off without too much effort. again, thankyou for the idea of the toluene.

this is a before, during and after pic. just minor decorations left to put on the finished one.

 

[OUTSIDER]

Re: Re: i need some help!!

If you can lay your hands on some toluene, it might work, it disolves most plastics, they use it in manufacturing vinyl and related products...you need something that will disolve polyester. Most fibreglass resins are polyester based. Hope it helps, good luck

BTW you "REALLY" don't want to use this stuff indoors as the vapours from it can and have killed, so be warn and do it in the garden.

why not go to a turner and have them make you some new pins, it'd probably be faster and cheaper ?

 

[spacekowboy]

my hobbies include fly fishing , horseback riding , dirtbikes , toking up , and i play guitar . although music is much more than just a hobby so i'm hesitant to categorise it as such . it's more like my passion . and we cannot forget , the search for intellegent conversation . which in this day and age is a rarity indeed .