This one goes out to Elliott Smith...or Steak Knives aren't just for cutting meat anymore


After a friend decided to strip his wood staircase and found a stripper that actually worked, I decided to try, again, to strip the trim in my house.

I started out with the stripper on the outside trim and door of the bathroom. The paint came off but it was still taking a lot of time. That was ok though, because I didn't expect it to go fast - I saw it as a year long project to do the whole house. Then something totally random and awesome happened. I saw some paint that was bubbled up from the wood and wondered if I could just peel it off, so I got a steak knife (yes, seriously) from the kitchen to pry the paint off with. It totally worked and the paint came off in a long sheet. Then what I discovered is it wasn't just there. Basically, whoever had put down the first coat of paint had not sanded down the varnish below so that it would bond.

Armed with only a steak knife, I began to peel the paint away from the trim everywhere in the hallway. Then, Daniel thought all of the knife weilding looked fun so he grabbed a steak knife and joined in. What I thought would take me a month, has taken only two evenings after work. It isn't totally paint free, I will still have to strip some areas with chemical stripper, mostly the areas with detail and ridges but it has gone so much faster than I ever could have thought.

As you might imagine, when using a steak knife to peel paint, there are a lot of near misses with eyes, fingers, feet. Everytime I almost stabbed myself, which was all the time, I couldn't help thinking about Elliott Smith and how hard it must be to stab yourself in the heart with a steak knife. Here are some pics:





These are the doors to our bedroom and a closet - totally stripped with a steak knife












These are the doors to the front bedroom/office and the bathroom. The bathroom doorway is where I used the chemical stripper, it obviously didn't go as well. You can see how it is much splotchier.