Need to remove paint / enamel from slate

Habbakuk

I found this old fireplace when renovating the house. Found four in all. One of them has an old slate 'mantel' I think it's called. It isn't very ornately decorated just a simple yellowish colour. There are some chips in the paint / enamel. I would like to remove the paint / enamel which does look to be in several layers. Then maybe either re-paint it or just leave it in a simple slate colour. Anybody know what type of remover should I use to get this paint of the slate? I was suggested by somebody to use 'Rock miracle' paint remover but I think it's only available in the US. Any ideas?

muckybutt

Nitromors worked for me.

I had some thick pieces of slate I wanted to carve to make a name plaque, they were covered in paint.

A couple of coats of nitromors stripped just about all of it off, to get the rest out I used a coarse then fine wet and dry paper to get a lovely flat smooth surface on it.

Biggles

Several years ago we had the same problem. Same as muckybutt, we used Nitromors and it now looks really nice.

But don't think it's a quick fix: it took us weeks of work in the evenings and there were times we wished we'd left it painted! But the end result was worth it.

Habbakuk

Thanks. Do you mean that you had to apply Nitromors repeatedly? I suppose you then have to wash it off after allowing it to soak into the paint-work or do you scrap the paint off? Did you then re-paint the slate?

Biggles

Habbakuk wrote: »

Thanks. Do you mean that you had to apply Nitromors repeatedly? I suppose you then have to wash it off after allowing it to soak into the paint-work or do you scrap the paint off? Did you then re-paint the slate?

My paint, like yours, was in several layers. The Nitromors will work on the top layer or two but then you need to apply again. It was a slow process.

No, I didn't repaint, I left it as black slate - if I'd wanted it painted I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of stripping it.

Habbakuk

Ha...yes of course. I think I mentioned, there are a couple of chips in the paint and the paint looks to be quite a thick layer. If there weren't any chips, I might leave it as it is despite it being a rather bland yellowish colour.

Habbakuk

I'm now right down to basically a film of dark paint on the slate. Will sand-paper spoil the stone surface? How should I get this final bit off without damaging the slate underneath and leave a nice slate-grey surface?

Biggles

Habbakuk wrote: »

I'm now right down to basically a film of dark paint on the slate. Will sand-paper spoil the stone surface? How should I get this final bit off without damaging the slate underneath and leave a nice slate-grey surface?

I wouldn't sand it, it would almost certainly scratch the surface of the slate. We just used lots of Nitromors and scrapers (carefully).