Stripping exterior paint on logs

[bj]

We have recently purchased a great little log cabin (about 800 sq ft) as a retirement home. The interior is the beautifu stained logs, but for some reason the exterior was painted many years ago and looks terrible. We would like to strip the paint and restore the logs instead of repainting. Does anyone know the best method for doing this? Thanks in advance for any suggestions! BJ

[rocklock]

A picture would be helpful... but there are several things that I would not do. I would not use chemicals. Sanding is way too much work. I like power washing but it could damage a log home that fragile. Corn cob blasting is more controllable but expensive. When you get the paint off, I would suggest several coats of stain that has UV protection. I will be using Sickkens. At about 80 bucks a gallon it is not cheap. There are other products at about the same price. Note: do not use spar varnish. What ever product, read the label on restrictions and temperatures.
I also presume that since you have not mentioned chinking that it has none. There are several products that I would recommend to cover chinking.
Best of luck

[patrickandbianca]

would be the way that I would go. Use some on a small section that is not noticeable and see what happens. I dont think you could scrape it all off, but maybe scrape, then corncob blast it if the chemicals dont work.

Did you talk to your local paint shop? Removing paint from logs is not much different from any other kind of wood and you cant be the first person in this situation.

Patrick

[ivanshayka]

I have heard about a tool that attaches to chainsaw somehow, it is sort of a big metal spinning prush, which supposed to clean logs fast. Has anyone heard about this tool? I will try to reasearch it and add another poster.

[dvb]

Are you talking about a Log wizard?
http://www.logwizard.com/
Dean
LHBA Class of Feb. 2006
Best investment of my life.
http://s522.photobucket.com/albums/w343/deanbrossman/

[edkemper]

It'll take the paint off and a whole lot more. Not exactly made for this purpose.

[Shark]

Probably more like an osbourn brush (sp?) maybe?

[CharisB]

BJ - crushed glass blasting might be an option to consider. It takes off both old and fresh paints and stains without fuzzing up the wood very much. You can check out a video of it on our website at www.sashco.com/log (click on the "watch videos" link on the left). This will give you a good idea of what media blasting can do.

If you're interested in more general, educational info on log home finishing, drop me an email and I'll keep my eye on here, too. cbabcock@sashco.com

-- Charis with Sashco

[clairenj]

Hi BJ. We have a 65 year old red pine cabin which was painted with a Benjamin Moore paint; Tudor Brown. Typical, yet sad, treatment of the log homes in our north jersey lake communities. Anyway, after we realized we could not afford the blasting, we looked into heat guns, both infar-red and regular heat. The infra- red would be used if the paint is lead. It's lower heat doesn't allow poisonous vapors from over heated lead paint. I can use the regular cheapo heat gun because it is acrylic paint, however. The warm paint peels right off with a little help from a putty knife. But if you choose to blast, check out the video regarding this on www.bearfortlodge.com
good luck