Paint Shaver Pro Review
After last year’s fire that I started while heat gunning the exterior of our 1888 Victorian, I started researching alternative methods of paint removal. I had previously stripped the entire exterior of our 1914 bungalow in San Jose without incident. But our current house has blown in insulation which presents a definite fire hazard.
I looked at several different chemical strippers but they were all expensive, time consuming, and messy.
I remembered hearing about the Paint Shaver Pro a few years ago and I had always considered that it must be too good to be true or why would people still be using heat guns or chemicals. Well I started looking for reviews on the Internet and generally they seemed favorable.
The biggest stumbling block is the purchase price. The 6 amp model is $599. But considering that the small fire I started with the heat gun cost me more than that to fix, well it was a no-brainer. Especially since I got away very lucky with the fire and caught it early.
I tried getting a used one off of Ebay but they always ended up going for close to the new price so I finally just ordered it from their web site. I received it about 10 days later. I just went with the 6 amp model, and none of the accessories. The blades last a long time and several Ebay auctions I saw people were selling lots of extra blades they never ended up using.
The biggest difference other than price between the 6 amp and 8 amp models is that they say with the 8 amp model you don’t need to sink any exposed nails. Well I’ve hit a few nails with my 6 amp model and it doesn’t seem to create much of a problem, not even nicking the blades.
I used a couple of boards that were going to be removed to practice on. Once I got started I couldn’t believe how fast it really went. In one day I easily finished stripping the south side of the house. Using the heat gun it would have taken me at least a week or more, plus a lot of electricity. There were a few areas that it couldn’t get into, mostly because of the exhaust vent, but I can sand those small remaining areas.
The shaver can leave some circular marks but they sand out easy. It’s a lot easier sanding the redwood without having to go through all the layers of paint.
I have v-rustic siding so it still leaves the groove that needs to be stripped. A previous owner caulked all of the joints which was a really stupid thing to do so I’m still spending a lot of time removing the paint and caulking from the v grooves, but it’s still progressing a lot faster than the section I did last year.
The fact that I haven’t had to call my fire department out this summer was an extra bonus. It’s embarrassing when you’re a fireman to have to call out your own department to extinguish a fire you started.
Tags: paint shaver pro, paint stripping, painting
May 31st, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Matt and Lori, your Victorian is looking beautiful. Wish we could have found similar in Grass Valley five years ago, but we do love our ranch living…more work outside than in and that’s okay with us. Very cold Spring, tho.
October 11th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Thanks for the info. regarding the paint shaver pro. I am about to begin stripping a lap board house which is over 100 years old, with multiple layers of various paints. I am sure some will be lead base.
My concern is how to strip the bottom side of the lap board without removing too much wood. There is approx. 2,500 sq. ft. of exterior wall to strip plus all the trim. How many blades would be required to complete the task?
Thanks for any feed back.
October 11th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
The shaver has two adjustments that allow you to change the depth both for the flat surface, and for the edge surface. So you can set it so it will only shave off the depth of the paint layers.
I’ve shaved the section shown in the photo, plus some of the back add on part using the first side of the first set of blades. Each set of blades has three edges you can use. I’ve also hit a few nails that I missed setting and that hasn’t been a problem yet. They advise not hitting nails with the lower end model, but I think that’s an excuse to get you to pony up for the larger model.
The blades last long enough that I would say go with the blades that ship with it. Their web site says one set should strip 5,000 sq. ft. and that seems reasonable to me. As I mentioned in the article, I saw lots of used ones on Ebay where they bought extra blades thinking they would need them but after stripping their whole house they had the extra blades left over. Their shipping is pretty fast so you can just order another set if you find yourself going through the blades that come with it.