Residual resin after fiberglass removal

[Bradford]

OK, I've been reading the posts on fiberglass removal. My second OT Guide has been more difficult to relieve of it's fiberglass than the first, but now I have successfully stripped off the cloth and some of the resin without significant damage to the wood.

My question has to do with the resin that remains on the wood. It is a thin coat, in some places intact and expansive, but on the bottom it is more patchy. There's a "nice" cloth weave pattern in it. I have experimented with the heat gun and putty knife and think now that I should have used that while the fabric was still on. What are the pros and cons of simply canvasing over that coat of resin, versus painstaking hours of heating and scraping with the putty knife?

Thanks for any advice you care to offer.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Bradford,
So far I've been lucky enough to run away from most fiberglass jobs, but in the couple that had the residual resin, one was like you discribe.....tedious work with a heat gun. The other was a dream. I put paint stripper on it and it turned it into a "sugary" substance and it scraped off easily. Might be worth a try.

Does anybody know what the difference was in the resins that I was dealing with.

Dave
www.littlelakescanoe.com

 

[davelanthier]

I use a heat gun and a good quality 2" paint scraper. Keep it sharp by touching it up on the bench grinder. You want the edge to have a slight bur simular to a carpenters scraper. Try not to catch the clinching tacks.

 

[pklonowski]

Residual resin after fiberglass

Either mineral spirits or turpentine (I think it's the former) will soften the resin, making for esier scraping. It's not any quicker or easier than the heat gun, and the chemical fumes make a great argument for abandoning fiberglass altogether. Go with the heat gun & scraper.

 

[Bradford]

Thank you all for the advice. I tried both the chemicals and the heat gun and have resolved to proceed with the latter, however tedious.