RE: Flow-over Stripping

> Kwick Kleen has some good products but their stripper 
>is not one of them... way too much ammonia in stripper -- 
>it will drive you  out of your shop.   


Ed,

I like that idea!  I often wish there was an additive in the MC that we 
could actually smell.  That way I and the employees would know we 
are getting a dose of chemical and take appropriate measures.

~RichC.

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>>Why, on God's green earth would you use anything 
>>but a water rinse stripper?



Steve,

Thank you for the excellent insight on strippers.  In reply to your question 
regarding a water rinse:  We have a flow over tank but are limited by space.  
A pressure wash would require additional containers (more space).  And I 
don't have the space to make a big splash with spraying water.  

And this is a minor point, but we had some expensive pieces that used dried 
beaver puke as a subtrate.  We a water rinse and the particle board subtrate 
started swelling along the edges.  Big problem.

I would like to increase the refinishing portion of my business.  But I'm 
not happy with our current set up.  Plus, there is a final dead-line limit 
on employee MC exposure coming in April.  The MC flow-over system 
may not even be an option for a small operator.

I am puzzled about the future for flow-over stripping.

~RichConley

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>Thank you Steve Austin or Awesome for the great article 
>on stripping systems.  And Suppliers.
>Fred Mc.


Steve Austin writes:
      
 Fred, I'm nothing more than a garage shop stripper who was too stupid to 
realize , in his earlier days, that he was working dirt cheap and being taken 
advantage of by a lot of  antique dealers. I was more interested in learning 
the work and having lots of business than I was in making money and I kept
that attitude for years and years.
      
I had no one to teach me, no Groop and no PR Magazine and no books. 
I had no computer and absolutely no way of finding other suppliers. 
I struggled for years and worked in conditions that a galley slave would find 
unacceptable. I worked so many hours and so hard that I would break down 
and cry just from exhaustion and futility. I stuck with it because, otherwise, 
all my efforts would have been wasted.
     
So, I'm just an ordinary stripper , who has paid some very heavy dues 
and is more than willing to share anything I know to give anybody the 
help I couldn't get when I first started. It's absolutely a pleasure.
     
Ed, I haven't used Kwick Kleen in a long time, so their stripper may have 
changed. I suspect that a lot of suppliers are looking to the future and may 
be trying to come up with new stripper formulas that will be effective and 
compliant. What better way to test a stripper than to switch it without 
telling the customer and then seeing what complaints they happen to get. 
I'm not saying that this is going on, but it sounds logical to get honest 
unbiased opinions by doing it that way.
     
Always save five gallons of stripper from the previous drum. Then, if there's 
a sudden problem with your stripper, you can try the prevoius stripper and 
see what it does on the same piece.   We don't need labs, just common 
sense and other suppliers to order from immediately. We write the checks. 
It works.
    
I already think highly of Benco as a company and I'm anxious to try their 
stripper, they'll get a very fair opinion from me.
     
Jack those painted prices way up. I'm the only stripper within a hundred 
miles , that I know of, who will still strip paint and that's because I have a 
recycler to recycle all of my stripper. Well, there is one new guy in my 
area who probably strips paint. In fact, I got him into Groop awhile back.
Don't know if he's still with us or not, but unless he gets a recycler, he's 
going to find getting rid of his hazardous waste legally is going to be very 
costly. He better do it legally, the DEC and EPA have electronic sniffers 
that can smell chemicals in the ground 20 years later, or so I've been told. 
You can't burn them, Aris.
 
                                                                          

>Steve,
>Your thoughts were quite eloquent except when you dippped rather low 
>and ridiculed a small company like minuteman.  I use minuteman's 
>system, although I do use other strippers. My experience with
> minuteman has been excellent.  They are rather steep, but the
> technical support I received during my irst year of operation was grand.
> I still call them with questions when needed.
> Davis Reeves 


Steve Austin writes:

That's because my opinion of them is low, Dave. I think all of their systems 
are extremely over priced. I think they're more interested in selling high 
priced systems than being a supplier to stripping businesses who don't buy 
their system. So if they're small , it's because they've locked themselves 
into a small market and they're also liars.
    
At one time, they were claiming in their catalog, that they would not be 
under sold on their stripper. That they would beat or match any price. 
I called them to order stripper and told them what I was paying and they 
wouldn't even discuss it. To my way of thinking, that's being a liar. 
It wasn't in their next catalog.
   
I'm comparing them to other stripping suppliers and that's why I said it was 
my own personal opinion. But, I'm glad that you spoke up and told us what 
you think of them and what your experience with them has been. 
Word of mouth is a powerful tool.
    
We can all have a direct impact on the suppliers now, as a Groop. Terry 
Parrish is obviously listening and so is Benny from Benco. Too bad, Kwick 
Kleen & Bestway aren't in here with us, their loss.
     
Hot tanks is something we haven't discussed much, Dave, so I'm going 
to ask some questions in a separate e-mail . That way it will start a thread 
on hot tanks for the Library. Thanks for speaking up.
                                                                          
Steve Austin
NY

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Steve Austin writes:
      
My Benco stripper will be here by Wednesday, the driver just called, 
so I will be trying it out on Wednesday or Thursday on some easy 
stuff as well as some really tough pieces that I happen to have. I have 
some outside shutters with some really tough green paint on them 
that my Interstate stripper is just not cutting.
     
If the Benco stripper does anything to these, I'm going to be very 
surprised, but I won't judge the Benco as bad if it doesn't strip them, 
these are extremely tough. This will be interesting.
     
But, I'll test it fairly on regular , normal pieces and give you my 
honest opinion.
                                                                           
Steve Austin
NY

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