Old plane, old dope, some old Monocoat over some of the dope.

Is there a way to get Monocoat off of dope after 30 years, short of lots of careful sanding?  I'm assuming that anything that'll eat Monocoat glue will eat dope, but if there's a magic solvent that works the other way, I'm listening.

Hi Tim,

You can use a paint cleaning solvent which will remove the adhesive without harming the dope.  The solvents that I use are Sikkens M-600 (the best, in my opinion), Poly-Fiber C-2210 (also an excellent solvent), and PPG makes a good paint cleaning solvent but I can't remember the product number.  The water-based paint cleaning solvents don't do much for paint prep cleaning and will likely do nothing to remove adhesive, so don't bother using them.  All of the solvent-based products contain varying amounts of naphtha with other ingredients depending on the manufacturer. 

Wet a rag with the solvent, and I mean really get the rag wet - not just damp.  Wipe the surface several times with the wet rag then immediately wipe it dry with a clean, dry rag.  Since the adhesive is old you may have to do it several times.  The solvent will not harm the dope or the balsa.

Tim - I just noticed that you wanted to get the Monocoat itself off of the balsa...the paint cleaning solvents will not do that but they should remove any residual adhesive.  I would try using a heat gun on the monocoat (carefully) to soften the adhesive & pull it off.

Whatever Bill reccommends, I'll go with because of the infinite experience and knowledge he has, but if you only have a small spot or twenty, cigarrette lighter fluid is nearly 100% naptha.  I use it a lot in the shop to remove excess glue spots left from spot glueing, etc. and also clean the wood thoroughly before starting to apply a finish.  (That's on custom guitars.)  So that's a good way to go if there isn't a huge area to do.  I just replenished my "supply" for a buck 95 at Wally-world.

 

Bill, where does one buy the cleaners and solvents you mentioned? Surely not Home Depot.

Tim,

consider yourself yelled at. Get a paint solvent from an auto paint store. Tell the guy you are cleaning adhesive from lacquer. He can recommended something they carry. I tend to use pPg or DuPont stuff, but Sikkens is fine as Bill notes.

Automotive paint store, I assume.  O'Reilly's had something from 3M called "adhesive remover" with xylene and naptha that doesn't seem to eat the dope -- I'll find out this weekend, unless Bill yells at me, in which case I'll find a real paint store.

Hi Tim,

Actually, the 3M adhesive remover should work just fine...I just use the paint cleaning solvents because I keep them in stock.