Strippers
How is that for an eye grabber? Today I would like to talk about strippers. I have been in the company of a couple the past few days and I am suffering because of it. You see, the fence in our back yard has needed some attention. The paint is cracking and peeling. We have been in need of good strippers to help.
So, we started with Tenor Man. We thought it would be a good idea for him to have something to do this summer. We gave him some power tools and a let him go. At first, the novelty of using power tools was fun. He made it through a couple panels before the novelty wore off. He did not work well as a stripper. I guess that is a good thing.
After giving him a chance, I decided to give it a whirl. I was doing well, but the scrapper tool we were attaching to our power tool was diminishing quickly. When I went to the hardware store to purchase a replacement, it cost me $10 and diminished quicker than the one we were using. I figured if we were going to have to buy a new scrapper for each panel, it was going to cost us well over $200 to strip the fence. Not what we were planning.
Now we started looking at liquid strippers. The Queen went out and purchased a can of stripper that was supposed to set for 30 minutes after being applied. It worked fairly well. I hated waiting around for it to work. The can allowed us to remove paint off about 4 and 1/2 panels. I looked at what we had left and decided to purchase 2 more cans of stripper. That is what I have been doing today. When I went to the hardware store, I found a product that only needed to sit for 15 minutes. I was excited. I could apply the stripper to one panel in about 15 minutes and start removing the paint.
This all sounded good. I put on some rubber gloves, reached for one of my cheap dollar store paint brushes and started applying the stripper. I had not been working more that 2 minutes when a small glob of stripper fell off the paint brush and onto my gloved hand. I was thinking I was so smart for wearing gloves. Over the course of the next two minutes, I was not smiling much any more. You see, at the expense of moving faster, the stripper had to be more potent. The small glob of goop was now burning the top of my hand. I looked down to see the protective glove bubbling. I slowly dissolved before my eyes.
What did I learn? I was going to have to be more careful. It did not work. I quickly learned that not only did the stuff burn through my gloves, but it also burned through my clothing. I did not see my shirt and jeans dissolve, but it did burn through to my skin. I was soon able to identify each location where the goop had dropped on the lawn, when I sat down to strip the lower panels. I was able to identify which branches of our trees had brushed against the fence after applying the goop. I learned that pumpkin vines are not only prickly, but burn if covered in this goop. I also learned that the fumes of this stuff, mixed with sweat was not a good combination.
The stuff was burning little holes in the finger tips of my gloves as I painted it on. Suddenly my sweaty gloved hands were burning with goop enhanced sweat. I finally had to stop. I still have no feeling in the little finger of my right hand and the tips of my thumbs and index fingers on both hands. But the paint has been stripped away in record time.
I have been thinking about this experience. Even when taking extra precautions, when I exposed myself to strippers, I got burned. Just because we are doing what we are supposed to in life, it does not mean that we can place ourselves in precarious places and expect to walk away unaffected. It is better just not to put ourselves in those places.
So, we started with Tenor Man. We thought it would be a good idea for him to have something to do this summer. We gave him some power tools and a let him go. At first, the novelty of using power tools was fun. He made it through a couple panels before the novelty wore off. He did not work well as a stripper. I guess that is a good thing.
After giving him a chance, I decided to give it a whirl. I was doing well, but the scrapper tool we were attaching to our power tool was diminishing quickly. When I went to the hardware store to purchase a replacement, it cost me $10 and diminished quicker than the one we were using. I figured if we were going to have to buy a new scrapper for each panel, it was going to cost us well over $200 to strip the fence. Not what we were planning.
Now we started looking at liquid strippers. The Queen went out and purchased a can of stripper that was supposed to set for 30 minutes after being applied. It worked fairly well. I hated waiting around for it to work. The can allowed us to remove paint off about 4 and 1/2 panels. I looked at what we had left and decided to purchase 2 more cans of stripper. That is what I have been doing today. When I went to the hardware store, I found a product that only needed to sit for 15 minutes. I was excited. I could apply the stripper to one panel in about 15 minutes and start removing the paint.
This all sounded good. I put on some rubber gloves, reached for one of my cheap dollar store paint brushes and started applying the stripper. I had not been working more that 2 minutes when a small glob of stripper fell off the paint brush and onto my gloved hand. I was thinking I was so smart for wearing gloves. Over the course of the next two minutes, I was not smiling much any more. You see, at the expense of moving faster, the stripper had to be more potent. The small glob of goop was now burning the top of my hand. I looked down to see the protective glove bubbling. I slowly dissolved before my eyes.
What did I learn? I was going to have to be more careful. It did not work. I quickly learned that not only did the stuff burn through my gloves, but it also burned through my clothing. I did not see my shirt and jeans dissolve, but it did burn through to my skin. I was soon able to identify each location where the goop had dropped on the lawn, when I sat down to strip the lower panels. I was able to identify which branches of our trees had brushed against the fence after applying the goop. I learned that pumpkin vines are not only prickly, but burn if covered in this goop. I also learned that the fumes of this stuff, mixed with sweat was not a good combination.
The stuff was burning little holes in the finger tips of my gloves as I painted it on. Suddenly my sweaty gloved hands were burning with goop enhanced sweat. I finally had to stop. I still have no feeling in the little finger of my right hand and the tips of my thumbs and index fingers on both hands. But the paint has been stripped away in record time.
I have been thinking about this experience. Even when taking extra precautions, when I exposed myself to strippers, I got burned. Just because we are doing what we are supposed to in life, it does not mean that we can place ourselves in precarious places and expect to walk away unaffected. It is better just not to put ourselves in those places.
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