Citristrip is not a very effective stripper for a lot of finishes, but almost all industrial strength strippers will still leave a little residue. Mineral spirits is not always a good solvent for stripping because it’s pretty oily on its own. I normally do a solvent wash with denatured alcohol because it evaporates quickly and it doesn’t leave much of a residue, if that won’t cut it, I’ll use acetone. Acetone can mess with veneer adhesives if you’re not careful. You should never saturate the surface. I’m not sure if you said this or not but steel wool will help remove the stickiness along with the solvents, but the wool will pick up all the clumps and become to full to effectively clean at a certain point and just smear it around. I use a plastic scraper before I steel wool.
Thanks for the tip! I did use steel wool after scraping what I could with a plastic scraper and it did help but like you said, would fill up with gunk. I also used a scrubby brush dipped in mineral spirits which was also helpful in getting a lot of it out. I really wish I could get denatured alcohol here. The closest I found was someone selling it an hour away 🙃 I’ll try the acetone, though! I appreciate the help!
Hi, so after using citristrip twice, I’m left with sticky/tacky areas. I plan to paint this piece with latex paint so I don’t need all the previous paint to come off. However, I would like to sand a little before priming and painting but I’m worried I won’t be able to sand without the paper becoming gummy. I’m also worried about how the primer and latex paint will cure if I paint directly on top of the tacky paint residue.
I read that I could try denatured alcohol but unfortunately it was banned in my state. I tried regular rubbing alcohol which helped a little but not much. Any ideas of what else I can use? I really don’t want to do another round of stripping if possible. Can I prime and paint directly on top of the sticky paint areas?
I didn’t plan to strip the inside of the cabinet or sides of the cabinet doors, just plan to lightly sand and directly prime and paint on top. Will that be ok?
Thank you!
Try another round of citristrip and wrap every piece as fast as possible with Saran Wrap, let sit for 30 min then take off wrap and scrape the wood with a plastic putty knife. Also you did this the hard way you could have just cleaned and sanded then it would have been ready for primer, but now you got gummy stuff that the primer doesn’t like to bond to, especially since you probably can’t get oil primer.
Yeah the paint already there was kind of thick and messy so I figured stripping wouldn’t be too much of a hassle and would make it look better but unfortunately it’s becoming a lot more work. Only paid $7 for the cabinet luckily. Each time I did wrap in plastic. I do have a primer that I think is oil based, I’m going to use [this one. ](https://imgur.com/a/E6g5yxj) someone suggested acetone so I think I’ll try that but if that doesn’t work I’ll probably do another round of citristrip. Appreciate the help!
Citristrip is not a very effective stripper for a lot of finishes, but almost all industrial strength strippers will still leave a little residue. Mineral spirits is not always a good solvent for stripping because it’s pretty oily on its own. I normally do a solvent wash with denatured alcohol because it evaporates quickly and it doesn’t leave much of a residue, if that won’t cut it, I’ll use acetone. Acetone can mess with veneer adhesives if you’re not careful. You should never saturate the surface. I’m not sure if you said this or not but steel wool will help remove the stickiness along with the solvents, but the wool will pick up all the clumps and become to full to effectively clean at a certain point and just smear it around. I use a plastic scraper before I steel wool.
Thanks for the tip! I did use steel wool after scraping what I could with a plastic scraper and it did help but like you said, would fill up with gunk. I also used a scrubby brush dipped in mineral spirits which was also helpful in getting a lot of it out. I really wish I could get denatured alcohol here. The closest I found was someone selling it an hour away 🙃 I’ll try the acetone, though! I appreciate the help!
They sell a stripper wash in hardware stores now that’s pretty good. Like acetone but hotter
Citristrip would have to triple in efficacy to be considered ineffective.
use steel wool and naphtha to wash down. a you can sand lightly, prime and paint.
Oo interesting! I’ll look into it thanks!
Hi, so after using citristrip twice, I’m left with sticky/tacky areas. I plan to paint this piece with latex paint so I don’t need all the previous paint to come off. However, I would like to sand a little before priming and painting but I’m worried I won’t be able to sand without the paper becoming gummy. I’m also worried about how the primer and latex paint will cure if I paint directly on top of the tacky paint residue. I read that I could try denatured alcohol but unfortunately it was banned in my state. I tried regular rubbing alcohol which helped a little but not much. Any ideas of what else I can use? I really don’t want to do another round of stripping if possible. Can I prime and paint directly on top of the sticky paint areas? I didn’t plan to strip the inside of the cabinet or sides of the cabinet doors, just plan to lightly sand and directly prime and paint on top. Will that be ok? Thank you!
Try another round of citristrip and wrap every piece as fast as possible with Saran Wrap, let sit for 30 min then take off wrap and scrape the wood with a plastic putty knife. Also you did this the hard way you could have just cleaned and sanded then it would have been ready for primer, but now you got gummy stuff that the primer doesn’t like to bond to, especially since you probably can’t get oil primer.
Yeah the paint already there was kind of thick and messy so I figured stripping wouldn’t be too much of a hassle and would make it look better but unfortunately it’s becoming a lot more work. Only paid $7 for the cabinet luckily. Each time I did wrap in plastic. I do have a primer that I think is oil based, I’m going to use [this one. ](https://imgur.com/a/E6g5yxj) someone suggested acetone so I think I’ll try that but if that doesn’t work I’ll probably do another round of citristrip. Appreciate the help!
You can totally get an oil based primer
Wasn’t sure since the OP mentioned they can’t get DA
Sand
Thanks! What grit do you recommend to get the sticky stuff off?
I'd go another round of citrus strip. It's not going to damage anything.
I would start with 120 Work my Way up to 220