Paint Spatters On Cabinets

[Victor78]

Anyone have any good suggestions on how to remove paint spatters on cabinets? Im not talking a few here and there, Im talking.... lots over a wide area. Other than going at it one by one, anything a tad quicker?

[MordEth]

Are we talking about latex or oil-based paint? I think the former is a lot easier than the latter—not sure if I can give you any tips for oil-based paints.

— MordEth

[Brad]

Victor78,

If you are lucky, there is a build up of old wax and oil. You can try removing this old wax and oil and many of splatters will come off with a light application of elbow grease with 0000 steel wool. Kotton Klenser works well to disolve old wax and oil quickly.

For the splatters that don't come off after the above first pass, I try a light scraping with my fingernail. Beyond that if the spot is aheared to the point that the only way to remove would be to sand or scrap off, you will most likely damage the finish. At this point, I take a black sharpie (permanent magic marker) and color the splats. they will magically disappear.

Post before and after pictures.

Brad

[Victor78]

Mordeth - I thought maybe this would be a good spot to post ideas on the subject. How many times have we gotten a machine, that for how many reasons, are speckled with white paint. Most of the time we dont know what type of paint is it, but general ideas to try.

Thanks Brad - We were kinda on the same track.

While cleaning the lid, I thought, why not try and use a little 0000 steel wool and try and work them out. The Brunswick 212 that Im working on, doesnt have much top coat left on it, so I thought I would give it a try. It worked pretty good. There are still a few that I need to go back and remove, but this thing looked like the night sky, speckled with white. So far so good. I dont want to start the 'what kind of cleaner we use', but whatever you feel comfortable with will work fine once you get the hang of using it and what it will do. Ive also heard of the black sharpie trick too, it works in a pinch for those tiny specs that just wont go away.

Jim

[MordEth]

Mordeth - I thought maybe this would be a good spot to post ideas on the subject. How many times have we gotten a machine, that for how many reasons, are speckled with white paint. Most of the time we dont know what type of paint is it, but general ideas to try.

Jim,

I agree completely, this is an excellent spot to post ideas on the subject.

I was asking wholly because I could possibly offer advice for removing paint...I really don’t know of anything that would not ruin the finish if you are trying to remove oil-based paint. Hopefully someone else has better advice for that situation.

I look forward to seeing how your restoration goes, and it would be nice to know if any of the suggested techniques work for you.

Good luck!

— MordEth

[Victor78]

Mordeth,

Brads suggestions got me thinking about using the 0000 steel wool, along with the cleaner. Trick is to go over it lightly and not scrub to hard, as the cleaner softens the finish a bit. For the stubborn specs, the fingernail works good. So to answer your question, yes, Brads ideas helped answer my question. A while back, I did an oak record cabinet, but it didnt have the amount of spatters as this Brunny has, and had tackled the specs one by one, wasnt going to happen on this machine

This Brunswick was the one I was looking for information on a while back, and R.J. Wakeman wrote with some good info about it. It is a slightly fancier style than the 210 that I have, dual head, three spring motor and slide out record drawers (A,B,C,D). I think it will be a great machine when it's done.

Jim

[need4art]

Hi All,
Believe it or not this happens to old oil paintings as well,
well for those that read my post about the heat gun here ya go again. If it is individual paint splatters treat them as if they were fly specks-fly poop for those who are not into art restoration.Heat the area until it is really warm to the touch and use a very thin x-acto knife and go to the very edge of the spot. Touching the edge of the blade to it and with an upward motion the spot will often just pop off. If the area is covered- heat as before and use the very edge of a course paper towel dipped in Kotton Klenser. Use a circle motion with very little pressure. Use the haet and keep repeating this process. I have just cleaned the entire lid of a Victor IX and it turned out great.
Abe

[JohnM]

Painters use naptha (similar to lighter fluid . . . although there are products such as Goof-Off that are probably specifically formulated) to remove dried paint splatters, both latex and oil. John M

[MordEth]

John,

I’ve used Goof-Off a number of times to get dried paint off of a floor, etc. (and it works very well), but I think I would be very hesitant to use it on something that I care about the finish. If I remember, it took a bit off the surface of linoleum floor tiles (although nothing particularly noticeable), so you might want to test it on something before using it on a machine.

I’m not sure if naptha has similar concerns or not.

But with any chemicals, it’s always best to test it on something that doesn’t matter before you use them on things that do.

— MordEth

[JohnM]

John,

But with any chemicals, it’s always best to test it on something that doesn’t matter before you use them on things that do.

— MordEth

Absolutely . . . almost goes without saying!

John M