Why didn't I think of this before?

Paint removal has been a relatively easy process for most of the interior woodwork. The tricky part has been getting the paint out of the nooks and crannies of all of the crown molding at the window and door heads. I have been using the Speedheater and though it easily removes paint from flat work, these areas are another matter. After scraping away with an Exacto blade for countless hours, an idea finally came to me: if only I had a tool that could get into these areas - kind of like a mini-sander. Wait, I do have such a tool!!! I quickly ran to the basement and found my Dremel. It took a lot of patience and care but I think that using the Dremel was a success. I used a very small pointed carving bit for the tight corners and then a round drum sanding bit for the rest. This saved a lot of time and frustration. I also did very little damage to the actual wood (unlike the occasion gouge I would get when using the blade and sandpaper) but it still took quite a bit of time due to the nature of the tool. Perhaps if I had better eyesight and hand control it would have been easier. I also wish my Dremel had a lower speed - that too would have helped with the control.
The only unfortunate thing is that I didn't think of this until I was on the last bit of paint stripping in the bedroom. The window trim is about 75% sanded. I decided to not strip the window stops and will likely cut new ones instead (when I do the window restoration next...). The existing stops are cracked and several areas have completely fallen apart - likely from when people have removed them in the past. I am still on schedule for painting by this weekend.

Back to work

"Holy shit, he's working on the house again!!!"

You're right, the well-ventilated house with all of the windows open and 80's punk and New Wave blaring from it can only mean one thing: I am back to stripping the wood in the bedroom!

Simple job. All I have left are the window heads and sills, apron, and cornice. Yeah, simple until I started actually stripping and found that these areas were once covered with something odd.Am I crazy? Was all of the other wood stripping this difficult and I only fail to remember it because it was so long ago that I did any actual stripping? Are these pieces of wood abnormally dark or am I holding the Speedheater on the pieces a little too long?

Why the hell did I ever start stripping this wood in the first place? There are plenty of people, in fact most people in America, that get along just fine with crappy painted woodwork. Why couldn't I be one of those people? Why I couldn't I just go to Home Depot, pick out a stark white paint (or maybe settle for a nice light cream), and go on with a painted and sane, frustration-free, life? Nooooooo, I have to get all fancy and have natural woodwork and wood floors and earth-tone paints and la dee da dee da.

O.K. I think I got that out of my system.
I am not sure but I really think that something was initially applied to this part of the window trim that did not get applied anywhere else. The Speedheater is absolutely useless. O.K., maybe I am exaggerating because it got off the first 6 layers of paint. Unfortunately, it is not helping with the last two? I was at this small 6' section for over 5 hours. This is disheartening as I got the entire door frame (jambs & head) completed in the same amount of time. I am not sure what this will mean aesthetically for the head of the window when it is seen in relation to all of the other woodwork in the room but I will persist and hopefully no one will be the wiser when they look at the final product.

Don't forget: vote early and often (at least once daily) for "Pleasant Home" at Partners in Preservation !!!