Home made acrylic varnish stripper

Leif

jimmo wrote: »

For the sake of £3 you might want to try this
http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/decorating-supplies/treatments-cleaners-protection/treatments/-specificproducttype-paint___varnish_remover/B-and-Q-Paint-and-Varnish-Remover-500ml-12599095?skuId=13119801

I found it very good on paint but haven't tried on varnish.

The active ingredient is benzyl alcohol, which is also in Wilko paint stripper and I think in the Eco one referred to earlier. I've tried the Wilko one on acrylic, and it discoloured the wood. It is good on paint though.

keystone

Leif wrote: »

Why thank you kind Sir. I did only get a B grade at GCSE chemistry, 35 years ago, but clearly my modest learning has not gone to waste.

. I was meaning that I was impressed that you can tell the chemical composition of a substance merely by sight and smell. But, of course, it was tongue in cheek and equally of course, you know that. Oh dear I did O levels! My organic chemistry is very rusty but I've still got text books and note books for reference.

Thanks to Mr Google ........................

Who daily generates wrong answers as evidenced by information often spouted here. (Before you take it ill no I'm not having a go at you but I am having a go at some posters who frequent this place).

That leaves ethyl acetate which is inexpensive, dissolves easily in water, and smells of pears. So I doubt it is anything else.

Pentyl (amyl) acetate is another ester that also smells of pear and is also a solvent. Indeed another name for ethyl acetate is banana oil and another for pentyl acetate is pear oil.

Well Sherlock, you seem to have missed that this is the money saving forum, and many of us 'waste' an awful lot of time thinking about how to do things on the cheap. Including thee and me.

No actually I hav not missed the point at all. I am very serious about this and will continue to promote the idea. Time is money. Time and time again (and no this is not having a go at you at all) we hear on here "£ 1,000 is a ridiculous price for X. I did mine for only £ 500." This position is patent nonsense. If a tradesman quotes £ 1,000 for Job X to be completed in 3 days and including £ 500 materials but the customer chooses to do it himself but takes 4 weeks to do it at an hour a time every night it is actually costing him more (when he calculates at what his hourly rate is " worth" to him) that emplying the tradesman to do it in the first place even if he values his time at only 50% of the tradesmans hourly rate. Simples.

The price of 5L of stripper including P&P is £50. If I can make some for 25% of that price, I am a happy bunny.

You said £40 earlier and were looking at doing it for 50%. But is your prerogative to be a happy bunny. I'm only commenting not criticising.

And no I have not spent money on the meths etc, I had them lying around. Us learned chemists need to keep our hand in, don't you know.

I've found its best taken with neat orange juice.

Cheers

Leif

keystone wrote: »

. I was meaning that I was impressed that you can tell the chemical composition of a substance merely by sight and smell. But, of course, it was tongue in cheek and equally of course, you know that. Oh dear I did O levels! My organic chemistry is very rusty but I've still got text books and note books for reference.

Who daily generates wrong answers as evidenced by information often spouted here. (Before you take it ill no I'm not having a go at you but I am having a go at some posters who frequent this place).

Pentyl (amyl) acetate is another ester that also smells of pear and is also a solvent. Indeed another name for ethyl acetate is banana oil and another for pentyl acetate is pear oil.

No actually I hav not missed the point at all. I am very serious about this and will continue to promote the idea. Time is money. Time and time again (and no this is not having a go at you at all) we hear on here "£ 1,000 is a ridiculous price for X. I did mine for only £ 500." This position is patent nonsense. If a tradesman quotes £ 1,000 for Job X to be completed in 3 days and including £ 500 materials but the customer chooses to do it himself but takes 4 weeks to do it at an hour a time every night it is actually costing him more (when he calculates at what his hourly rate is " worth" to him) that emplying the tradesman to do it in the first place even if he values his time at only 50% of the tradesmans hourly rate. Simples.

You said £40 earlier and were looking at doing it for 50%. But is your prerogative to be a happy bunny. I'm only commenting not criticising.

I've found its best taken with neat orange juice.

Cheers

A very informative answer.

Yes Google is not a reliable source, which is why I cross check.

Your comment on amyl acetate is very interesting. Apparently it has low solubility in water, but you are right that it might be the solvent in the commercial stripper. That said, I've just had a sniff of the commercials stripper, and it is more like banana than pear. I hope to get a sample of ethyl acetate which will allow a direct comparison, and a test of its effectiveness.

I did say £40+ going from memory, then I checked and with P&P, the total is £50.

Regarding time is money, many of use like to do jobs ourselves for various reasons:

• To save money. Often we cannot work more than 40 hours in our normal jobs.
• Enjoyment. It is fun restoring an old piece of furniture, or replacing a tile in the bathroom.
• Practicality. Why faff around paying a trade to do a small job which I can do myself the same day.
• To get a good job. Sadly good trades are hard to find, and I can do a better job than many when it comes to non specialist work. Many trades do not like this reason, and will say my work is nowhere as good as professional work, but they are wrong.
• Convenience. It can be inconvenient to have to take off a day of work to meet a trade, and hang round while he or she works in the house. So the actual cost, using your argument, is actually much higher, since I am using up my holiday.
• Sometimes there is no alternative. I wanted a solid wood chest of drawers, and I don't like the modern ones that I can afford. So I stripped an Ercol chest of drawers, and I will apply hardwax oil today, or next week. It is made from beautifully figured elm, with mahogany or sapele draw frames. You cannot get that sort of quality today without paying a fortune.

Actually I do agree with your point about time is money. I intend to buy a new sideboard, media unit and sofa (probably Ercol) simply because restoring old ones would take too much time.



Oh, and yes I realise some of your comments were tongue in cheek.

By the way, what is your avatar?

DirectDebacle

Time and time again (and no this is not having a go at you at all) we hear on here "£ 1,000 is a ridiculous price for X. I did mine for only £ 500." This position is patent nonsense. If a tradesman quotes £ 1,000 for Job X to be completed in 3 days and including £ 500 materials but the customer chooses to do it himself but takes 4 weeks to do it at an hour a time every night it is actually costing him more (when he calculates at what his hourly rate is " worth" to him) that emplying the tradesman to do it in the first place even if he values his time at only 50% of the tradesmans hourly rate. Simples.

Tradesman 24 hours @ £20 p.h = £480.00

DIY 28 hours @ £10.p.h = £280.00.

Simples:D

Be interesting to know the results of your experiments Leif. Good luck.

keystone

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Tradesman 24 hours @ £20 p.h = £480.00

DIY 28 hours @ £10.p.h = £280.00.

Simples:D

Yeah very funny. Its the principle I'm getting at. Pick holes in a few numbers I plucked out of the air when typing all you want the principal remains the same - people fail to consider that:

a) Their time does cost them money and;
b) Invariably the better half has to wait soooooo much longer to get a job done.

Next time I'll do some maths if you really want.

Cheers

Cheers

keystone

Leif wrote: »

By the way, what is your avatar?

It's a penguin having the temerity to wake a sleeping polar bear.

Cheers