Removing lead paint

[lilsparky]

Bought my first scroll saw at a yard sale this summer, the day the Church that I was brought up in was destroyed by fire. My thought was to salvage some wood from it (at least some of the old wood siding, it was gutted and the roof caved in but almost all of the outside walls are intact)and make some memento type stuff for the church members.

Managed to break the clamp on the yard sale scroll saw within a couple of days, but used it enough to know that I'm in love with the craft, and wound up with a shiny new DeWalt 788.. I've shared this story with some of my other newbie questions, sorry for the repetition.

Anyway. I picked up some of the siding today that was on the ground from the firefighting effort. Took about a 2 foot length, sanded it a little with a belt sander, hit it hard with my electric hand planer and then will run it through my bench planer (when I get brave enough to use it, sometime in the next few days - and yes, making sure all the nails are gone). I'm thrilled with the way it's turned out so far.

I have permission to take all I want, as the building is going to be burned down in the next few weeks. If I don't take it, it gets burned. If I wind up with any kind of marketable talent, I will tithe the proceeds.

My question is, I'm positive that the paint is lead-based. The church is very old.

What's the safest way to protect myself while getting that paint off? (short of hiring somebody - I'm thinking that a "professional" learned somewhere, so can I).

I'm willing to spend a few bucks on a good respirator - should I also maybe get some hazmat type gear? A disposable rain suit or something like that? (and being mindful of nothing loose and floppy) What's the best kind of respirator?

I will do it outside at a house out in the country with no kids and no critters. Set up on plastic to dispose of instead of just letting the dust drop on the ground. I'm thinking doing it outside in an isolated spot, the dust will dissipate enough to not be harmful to anyone. Am I being too cautious?

I will probably wind up doing lots of it. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is. We are thinking maybe hemlock? It's nice and flat and 3/8" thick. Will take a piece to a local mill and find out. Will play with it on my saw to see that it is "scrollable" before I go any farther.

Thanks in advance for suggestions.

[Wood Dog]

Hire professionals......in my opinion it is not a do it yourself project.
Seeing you are bent on removing lead paint yourself here is a link for your state and the safety precautions.
What Home Owners Need to Know About Removing Lead-Based Paint
Take it slow.....and be safe.

[greatdane2]

As in so much of the hype about what is dangerous and can kill us, things get out of hand. If lead paint was as dangerous as some would have us belive I and a lot of others that grew up with it should be dead.

Anyway I use as much old wood as I can find, and if old paint is on it I take it outside and sand it down with a portable belt sander hooked up to my shop vacum, and the bag goes in the garbage.

Alan.

[JohnB]

G'day Sparky,
I've a foot in both Alans' and WDs' camp on this subject.
I take all reasonable care but don't go overboard.
If I recycle any timber that I suspect has lead paint on it I clean it up by one of 2 methods.

1/ If there is enough timber, I'll saw of the painted surface with the band saw or circular saw and chuck it.

2/ If I'm pushed for the size of timber I require, I fit some old blades to the thicknesser and run it through that, with the dust extractor hooked up.

[Hobbyhorse]

I have removed lead based paint with a heat gun and scraper before machining it. I do not know whether the heat creates any toxins but I did live to tell the tale.

Rhys

[Rolf]

I use a good respirator, I do it outside with a tarp to catch all the old paint, a heat gun and a scraper I don't use a putty knife as that tends to dig in. Get yourself a lead test kit. You could also use a stripper but for me that is too messy.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Rolf

I use a good respirator, I do it outside with a tarp to catch all the old paint, a heat gun and a scraper I don't use a putty knife as that tends to dig in. Get yourself a lead test kit. You could also use a stripper but for me that is too messy.

Food for thought : I think anytime your working with any kind of wood in the shop . YOU should always wear a Respirator< I do !!! Good for you Rolf !!!!! Marshall

[workin for wood]

I heard that a heat gun is the most dangerous way to remove lead paint, and sanding is the second most dangerous. Unless you have a really awesome respirator, the heat gun vaporizes the lead so it becomes like air and can go right through a typical respirator. Sanding is dust and lead is smaller than dust and will go right through a dust mask but not a decent respirator. The proper and safest method of removing lead is paint stripper. This liquifies the paint and you just scrape the goop into the trash with no air born hazards to deal with. After it's as clean as you can get it, let it dry and run it through a planer, outside, with a simple dust mask on will be fine to remove the remaining bit of paint that may be down in some pores. Assuming your planer has sharp blades, there will be very little dust, and almost no paint left for you to breath.

[Rolf]

Jeff's solution is probably the best and safest.
But I would still do it outside because the strippers I use have MEK in them and that also is very bad. I know they have some newer safer strippers but I don't find them to be as effective.

[lilsparky]

Just wanted to thank you for your input.

For now, I'm going to use the power hand planer, outdoors. Got a good respirator (I feel like Darth Vader), cheap bib overalls from a rainsuit, a sweatshirt worn only for the project, good safety glasses and latex gloves. Containing the falling dust on plastic sheeting.

Bought some paint stripper, but haven't tried that yet.

So far have only done three boards about a foot and a half long and they have come out beautifully. It's about 1/4" - 3/8 thick. Some kind of pine, we think. No knots.

Can't wait to start projects. Going to do the reahabbing of the wood while we still have good weather, then settle in to the scrolling when we lose that (not much longer, now).

Thanks again. You guys are the best!!