Sixty Stripped

The original goal was to strip and sand 60 boards by Friday. That would have been 12 a day. I changed the plan slightly because I’m trying to avoid unnecessary trips to the hardware store. When gas is $3.25 a gallon and you drive a Boss 1971 Ford F100 Custom Camper Special that gets about 7 miles to the gallon you try and avoid unnecessary trips any where.

On Monday, after stripping the 12 for the day, I discovered I had neither enough sand paper or alcohol to do the job of sanding. Instead of bolting to the hardware store at the drop of a hat like I would have done a few weeks ago when gas was a relatively affordable $250 a gallon I just kept stripping. As of about an hour ago I have completed the stripping portion of the project. I can now begin the sanding portion once I have purchased the sand paper. Of course, this will still require a trip to the hardware store so I really didn’t save any gas. It’s the principal, though. I may have saved gas and thats what's important. I made the effort. Let’s not lose sight of what’s important here. I made the effort.

I probably could have finished all 60 boards yesterday except I discovered that about a third of them were originally painted and not shellacked. I thought all of these came out of the upstairs addition kitchen, which was shellacked. Some must have come out of the adjoining bathroom, which was painted originally. I just piled everything together in the same spot in the attic. As all of you strippers out there know, stripping wood that was originally painted takes a lot more time an effort than stripping wood that was originally shellacked. Regardless, it is done.

Sixty Stripped Boards


The Messy Aftermath



Of course, it is mandatory that I have a bad song in my head while stripping paint. So put on your Angel Flights and platform shoes and “Strip, strip, strip… Strip, strip, strip… Strip your wood work, Strip your wood work”

Sung to the tune of Shake Your Booty


You can, you can strip it
Very well
You can, you can strip it
To bare wood

Strip, strip, strip
Strip, strip, strip
Strip your wood work, Strip your wood work
Strip, strip, strip
Strip, strip, strip
Strip your wood work, Strip your wood work

Repeat until your head explodes