Restoring my baby – Day #1

I started on my baby ! (See baby here)

First I used a scraper I bought at an art store ($2). I don’t know exactly what this tool is called. Maybe it is really intended for artists to put pigment on their pallet board? That’s just a guess. Whatever it is, it works great when removing loose paint.  It’s thin like a razor blade but not sharp. The edges will not cut you.  Since it is slim, it slinks under paint layers very easily.  Strong but flexible and actually bends a little.

Most of the paint was so loose on top, it fell right off in matter of minutes with my scraper. Yes, you see orange paint because I also tested an orange sample paint.  BAD idea!  Still going with the red! (This red here)

Then I sanded the remaining top paint off with my orbital sander.

Even though the sander has a dust bag, there is still some dust that needs to be brushed off. I use a brush with soft but strong plastic bristles.

It may appear clean but there are still fine particles of dust. I use baby wipes to really get the wood clean.   Any brand will due as long as they don’t have lotion – Wet Ones were used this time.

Next step – repair the top cracks with caulk.  I used leftover silicone caulk from a home improvement project.  This one is waterproof and intended or indoor or outdoor use.

Filled the holes.

Then wiped off the excess with a terry cloth kitchen towel. I bought a huge bag of about 20 of these at Smart and Final for about $6. I wash and reuse for all my restoration projects.

Then I took off the hardware with an electric drill.

All the above took about 1.5 hours.  Now I can start removing the paint on the front drawers and the body.  I work a full time job so I may not be able to start on it again until maybe this weekend.  But at least I got a pretty good start on it and can’t wait to finish the rest.