Plastic wood? Epoxy?

[Howie]

Can anyone offer a good way to get rid of plastic wood? Or maybe it's epoxy? - the canoe was fiber-glassed at one point.

A previous restorer wannabe use lots of plastic wood or epoxy on this 1938 Otca, presumably done to seal the cracks between the planking. It's sort of yellow in color. I just finished the 1st round of stripping the varnish and hoped that this stuff would start flaking off - but no luck. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? Heat maybe?

 

[MGC]

I had a canoe that was worked on by a clown who did not understand that some turn of the century builders did not plank to the top of the rib. He filled the space with plastic wood. I used my heat gun to remove the majority of it. With heat it got gummy enough to extract. Once the heat was removed it hardened back up so that I could scrape/sand the remainder off. I do not envy you for the pleasure of getting it out of planking...that will be a class A pita.

 

[Howie]

Yeah, it's definitely plastic wood - a wood chisel can scrape it. But he did such a nice job of smearing it 1/2" on either side of the cracks! Too bad I don't have a 1" wide palm sander. Ah well... it was a freebie.

 

[Howie]

And did I mention he used thin plywood to replace planking in spots? And that he didn't use tacks but thin escutcheon nails without clenching. Had a few ouch moments...

 

[pathologist]

I successfully used a heat gun to remove the majority of epoxy that remained on the hull after the fiberglass was removed. However, "pools" of epoxy remained in many hammer blossoms, and some would not give in to heat or digging out without tearing planking. I ended up sanding all smooth and applying varnish in hopes to seal and anchor the "pools" to prevent their breaking loose after canvas is applied.

 

[PGC]

Howie, I do have a 1” wide palm sander. I removed the bottom plate from my Mikita and made a shoe out of 2x4 scrap (1x4-the width of the bottom plate) and bolted it to the plastic sub-plate. I rockered the bottom to accommodate the curve of the planks. I rip 1” strips of sanding paper from old sanding belts long enough to slip under the sanding paper clamps. It has worked pretty well cleaning up the 1916 Carleton I’m working on. Photos above.

 

[Howie]

PGC - Thanks for the idea. Think I'll work on that idea. I've also got a reciprocating saw with a sander. Maybe that could be modified...

 

[Dave Osborn]

Howie
Here is a good link to sanding.
http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/looking-for-a-sandpaper-solution.15189/#post-76693

 

[Howie]

Yup... I've been thinking about just this type of solution. Visiting the hardware store today to see what I can find. Thanks Dave!