MTFCA Forum

More a curiosity question. I’m going to strip and refinish naturally finished spokes. Spokes and wheels are solid. It seems it would be easier than sanding , scraping, etc. But I don’t want to do something that might permanently damage the wood.
Thanks
Tom

Tom,

While this was NOT on hardwood spokes, I have a bit of experience with steam/pressure washing wood. Basically, wood has 2 kinds of fibers. Strong load bearing fibers, and soft sap wood. I found the high pressure washing would do little to NO damage to the strong load bearing fibers, BUT, would damage the soft sap wood fibers.

Now, the Question: Will the pressure/heat damage the softer fibers in your spokes?

My best suggestion is to find some old spokes, of the same species and general age as the ones you want to refinish. Try the pressure washer on them and you will see if there is damage or not.

Keep in mind, UNLESS you are using a water based finish on your prepped spokes, you will NEED to let the spokes dry for some time to ensure any moisture driven/absorbed into the spoke will have dried out of the wood before you apply the finish.

Good Luck

What kind of pressure washer will blast off paint/clear finish? If it will do that, I can't see it being kind on woodwork.

The best hand scraper is a strip of freshly cut glass. I have a glass shop cut me some 1" wide strips from any old scrap they have. Each strip will give you four scraping edges. It is important that you scrape with the grain, even down in the valley between spokes. It is just as important to sand along the spokes. Resist the temptation to use a strip of emery paper around the spokes. That will leave nasty scratches for you to deal with. You may need a knife edge at the felloe end of the spokes to get right into the corners.

I once took 3 T wheels on a holiday to Coffin Bay. In between fishing, eating, tall tale telling, sleeping and gorging on famous Coffin Bay oysters, I managed to get all three scraped and sanded ready for clear finishing as soon as I got home.

This is not the easy way, but it is guaranteed to give good results.

Allan from down under

Hi Tom! I don't think the steam cleaning would remove the existing finish all that well.

Tom, you will be best served to use a chemical paint stripper. Steam/pressure will damage the soft wood. Be sure to mask off any areas you don't want to remove paint.

A heat gun and carbide blade scraper would be the safest for the wood. Follow up with a single edge blade and retractable zip blade for the crevices.

Just sounds like a lot of work for this lazy old guy! I'd like to see a pic of one anyway. But I definitely wouldn't blast them. I'd find a tank-dipper place that refinished furniture and stuff and have em stripped that way. Luckily we have one near me and that's what I did with two wheels on my former firetruck. Cost like $35 a wheel and worth every penny!

I’ve done 11 wheels so far with great results and get a bit faster every time. I use citristrip and apply a ton on the wheel, then let it sit wrapped in a garbage bag a couple of days outside. Then power wash and repeat. It does such a good job it cut my scraping and sanding time down about 70%. Then after all the old crud and crap is off and the spokes are clean I scrape with a razor and key is to find a position you can stay at in the same motion and rotate the wheel around comfortably. The sand with 150 and then again with 220. Labor intensive! Then I hand paint the wheels in primer, then paint. I stain the spokes and give two coats of spar varnish. Amazing!

Stripping works well, just use a wood-safe stripper and test a small area first. You’ll still need to sand lightly after. Avoid anything too harsh to protect the wood.

Water, pressure and wood are not compatible. I would steer clear of water blasting, steam cleaning, or sandblasting because each of those methods can damage the wood by destroying the soft grained wood between the hard grains giving the appearance to the surface resembling the Grand Canyon and since you are planning to clear coat, I would also avoid using a heat gun because if you get the gun too close, or linger too long in one place it could scorch the wood and prevent you from being able to clearcoat to a damaged surface. Usually, any shortcut method designed to save time and labor does not provide the best results. Only time tested methods that give you time to concentrate and focus on each square inch should be used. Don’t worry about time. Worry more about doing the job right. Use a gel type paint remover and scrape the paint off using a triangular razor knife blade. It will take longer, but you will be left with a smooth, undamaged surface that can be clear coated and will provide the results you can be proud of.

The unit I’m considering is not a hi pressure steam unit. It is relatively low pressure, similar to the units used to clean grout in ceramic tile, granite or slate. It was just a thought. I appreciate all the comments. Will do the work this winter. I’ve used chemical removal previously with good luck. Just looking at other options!