Customer Reviews

GAL Paint/Varn Remover

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found this varnish remover was best when applied with a paint brush and then covered with plastic bags of any kind. This allowed the stripper to penetrate the wood without drying out. The first reviewer probably would have gotten better results had he/she used plastic bags to cover the applied stripper. I found this stuff to be the absolute best...granted I have only tried one other product (Orange scented indoor stripper aerosol from Home Depot)... That stuff had too much smell to try to cover up the fumes but this 3M product has barely any scent at all!

I used this product to strip 2 coats of black paint off of an arcade machine of mine to get to the vinyl sideart underneath. I was able to use this stripper in-doors, with no mask or gloves. Worked like a charm, was able to wipe it off with paper towels, but a window scraper worked well too. It works best on latex paints. I used it on oil-based, and a mess ensued - of course that happens with any stripper on oil-based. :)

Make sure to test before going whole hog, because this stripper can etch some materials.

I recently refinished our dining room table and chairs. In the process, I tried a few different strippers on the chairs, to see which one worked the best. Although the 3M product had low-odor and went on easily, it dried hard and chalky without loosening much of the finish, was difficult to remove, and severly etched the wood... leaving black streaks and spots all over, despite the fact that I hadn't used steel wool. I had to do major sanding to remove the rest of the finish, and it was just about impossible to remove the black spots, which were a definite draw-back since I had been planning on staining the raw wood. I would give a much, much higher recommendation to the green Ready-Strip product available.

Invest in a mask, some gloves and goggles and get the nasty stuff, because this stuff hardly strips anything. It cakes and dries too easily, even when covered.

You can actually watch the paint and varnish come off right in front of you with the nasty stuff.

3M Safest Stripper works great...especially if you apply the stripper and cover the areas with plastic overnight. Finish comes off easily in the morning.