How to Restore Door Knobs Covered in Paint : Remove Paint with Steam

In a previous video, we used steam to remove paint from a door. We used a steamer we bought on Amazon:
Steamfast SF-520 Full Size Fabric Steamer with Insulated Hose, Clothes Hanger, and Fabric Brush , White
amzn.to/3p8qVyU
We are basically using the same process we used on the door to direct the wet steam onto the door handle and the door hardware in an effort to more safely remove the likely lead paint. The 100 year old door handle and 100 year old door hardware are worth the effort. The years of paint buildup are covering the natural beauty of craftmanship we don't see much of in this modern age. That makes these antique door parts worth the effort as you can see in this video.
On these 100 year old doors, there is no doubt some of that paint was lead based paint. So the less dust, the better. Always use all necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) like goggles and respirator to ensure your safety.
You could use messy chemical strippers like Citristrip. Those results may vary but it might be worth a try if you don't mind the clean-up mess. Other possible ways to remove old paint might include paint removal with a heat gun. But with such a paint removal tool, there are drawbacks like the fumes and possible damage to the wood if you don't keep the heat gun moving over the surface of the wood.. It seemed to us that steam did seem to keep the dust and fumes down while softening the paint making the paint easier to scrape off without a gooey clean-up later.
If you use steam to remove paint from a door, you will have to use some DIY skills to build a box to retain the steam over your work piece for a few minutes. It does take paint off the door effectively if you can do that.
To strip paint off wood doors or wood windows, steam can be effective. Knowing how to strip paint off or at least knowing your options can be a huge benefit. But it is not just knowing how to remove paint but how to remove it safely. When in doubt, assume that you are dealing with lead paint and take the necessary precautions. If it's lead based paint, you'll need to have a plan for how to remove stubborn paint off wood because lead paint adheres well!
Steam does help the process of removing paint from wood trim, wood doors, wood window and though we did not try it yet, it may work as well on metal doors. It might be worth a test run to see. But as for removing paint from a wood door, steam paint removal is definitely possible as you see in this video.
Certainly one could try paint removal with a heat gun or other tools, but for us, steam did a good job.
Do your research, select your best tools to remove paint from the wood, and you are half way down the road to a job finished!
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#restoration #antiques #paintremoval