Technical Wood Spoke wheel Paint removal

I have some old wood spoke Model T wheels that I would like to get down to bare wood and refinish with a clear. Has anyone removed the paint from the spokes? What was the best paint stripper?

 

Zip Stripp. Anything that works on wood will work on that.

 

Thanks, I will look into that.

 

When I was going to “retstore” my Dodge PU, they had a few layers of paint on them. I spent a lot of time with strips of 60 grit (like polishing a shaft) to just start to see the wood. Then 100 or 120 down to maybe 220? Took hours per wheel, but the two I completed came out real well. I can’t recall the product I put on them, but had met a guy who restored old wood spoked wagon wheels and bought it from him.
I didn’t like a chemical stripping approach, I thought it might seep in to the wheel and hub area. But can’t confirm that.

 

I would think Tung oil would work nice on wheels.

 

I stripped the paint off an original set of wheels on my 1924 Tudor. What worked for me was to use my pocket knife at a right angle to the spoke and scraped the paint off. A lot of people use a piece of broken glass to scrape the paint off. The result was that most of the paint was removed and I could finish off sanding with 80 grit sandpaper. The black paint had penetrated the grain, and when I finished the wheels with clear polyurethane the result was beautiful dark hickory with the grain highlighted by the absorbed paint.

 

Formby's is gentle enough that it doesn't penetrate the wood and leach paint into the grain.

 

"I would think Tung oil would work nice on wheels."
Your tongue or mine? They are good for getting into tight cracks.

 

Does tongue oil remove paint? Or soften it?

 

Ive recently used a soy based gel paint stripper from the woodstore w good success. No nasty fumes to deal with was nice.

 

I'd try scraping the paint off the spokes first before going to a stripper.

 

But wouldn't a stripper be more fun??

 

My grandfather used to strip wooden spoke wheels with a razor blade, sand them and re-varnish them.

 

Why are you'se guys referring to 'strippers' and 'tongue oil' on this... a family oriented car site? The noiv of sum peeples!

 

I use ground corn cob on a fence, and a 1937 wooden boat. Its the same process as sand blasting but with corn cob. It took no time and I do it for a living.

 

Initially I was actually thinking of using something like that to remove the paint from the wheels.

 

I use to sell all types of paint & varnish removers, the local antique furniture restorers preferred a product called Kutzit made by Savogran.

If you are not familiar with paint strippers containing methylene Chloride you need to work in a well ventilated area and use heavy rubber gloves, this stuff works and if you use common sence you want have any problems,.

It's best to work on heavy cardboard, you can brush the stripper on, you can use steel wool to aid in removing the paint after it start bubbling up, any stubborn areas like cracks a wire or brass bristle brush helps. HRP