# Stripping enamel paint from vermont castings wood stove



## fotoman70 (May 8, 2012)

Hello All - I am a newbe to the wood stove world I am trying to remove the enamel factory paint from my Vermont Castings Intrepid down to the cast iron so i can repaint with new color. the stove had chips down to the cast iron in various areas. My local sandblasting shop could not get the enamel off the stove and could only get the color off, but now I have an off white porcelan like material left and the stove is not down to the cast iron. I have the stove in pieces to ease up sandblasting.
so here are my questions
1. What can I do to remove paint and enamel from stove to expose the cast iron
2. What primer would you use to make for a base coat
3. Would you fire the wood stove outside between primer and paint
4. What type or brand of paint would you use to give a high gloss off white finish
5. What type of stove cement would you use to reseal the stove
6. The stove is a cat stove, can i run it without the cat in the stove

I can use any help that I can get since i have no idea what I am doing and have limited funds to invest in stove so am trying to do it myself and would hate to have to tell my wife she was right that this could not be done


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## Sandhill Crane (May 8, 2012)

This is interesting! We have two Vermont Casting stoves. We replaced one, putting the older one, in the garage. Problem is the old one had some tiny spider cracks in the finish, and the ambient moisture in the spring and fall popped huge enamel chips off, the size of quarters. I love that stove, but it looks like someone unloaded buckshot at it. Just saying moisture is going to be a consideration in what you do.


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## Whitespider (May 8, 2012)

fotoman70 said:


> *...trying to do it myself and would hate to have to tell my wife she was right that this could not be done*



You're SCREWED!!! 

That, “_off white porcelain like material_”, is… PORCELAIN! The only way you’re gonna’ get that stuff off is with a hammer, chisel and a lot of cussin’! I’d leave the porcelain on it, repair the chips best I could, forget primer, and paint with any good “high heat” stove and grill paint.

Welcome to AS :msp_smile:


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## turnkey4099 (May 9, 2012)

Whitespider said:


> You're SCREWED!!!
> 
> That, “_off white porcelain like material_”, is… PORCELAIN! The only way you’re gonna’ get that stuff off is with a hammer, chisel and a lot of cussin’! I’d leave the porcelain on it, repair the chips best I could, forget primer, and paint with any good “high heat” stove and grill paint.
> 
> Welcome to AS :msp_smile:



Reminds me of the time the forman of our manufacturing shop asked the sand blast shed to clean the galvanising off some steel.

Harry K


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## avalancher (May 9, 2012)

Whitespider said:


> You're SCREWED!!!
> 
> That, “_off white porcelain like material_”, is… PORCELAIN! The only way you’re gonna’ get that stuff off is with a hammer, chisel and a lot of cussin’! I’d leave the porcelain on it, repair the chips best I could, forget primer, and paint with any good “high heat” stove and grill paint.
> 
> Welcome to AS :msp_smile:



Yep, I agree with Whitespider, porcelain is next to impossible to remove without seriously damaging the cast iron beneath it. My mother dragged over a cast iron pot years ago that had been in the family for years that had some of the porcelain flaking off and wanted me to sandblast it and paint it. I hit that thing with 200PSI with the coarse grade sand, and it just bounced off for an hour. I tried sanding, nothing. I finally managed to rough up the porcelain enough to get some epoxy filler to stick in the damaged areas, and gave it a few coats of high temp engine block paint and called it good.


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## Encore (May 9, 2012)

You are done buddy. There really is no way you're getting that porcelain off the stove. 

Pick a color and paint away.


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## Granpajohn (May 9, 2012)

No one answered the cat questions.
I am not a cat stover, but know that you can run it without the cat. However, the stove should produce more heat from less wood if there is a functioning cat in there. It's probably worth the money to find and install the proper cat. Here they seem to be $200:
Vermont Castings Woodstove Parts - Free shipping on all parts orders over $99

The other replies on the porcelain are not encouraging. But, don't give up.


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## SS396driver (May 9, 2012)

its not chipped and scratched it has "character" mine is the same way I just touched it up where the cast was showing


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## amac65scot (Jul 10, 2012)

*this is completely possible with excellent results*

I am looking to do the same for the exact model. 

I say that this is clearly possible because if you go to eBay and type in the following, there is someone selling vermont stoves that were originally enamelled. How it is done I do not know as I cannot send a message, presumable because I am in the UK.

E-Bay type in:

Vermont Castings Resolute Wood Stove pick-up or ship,MA


The finish is exceptional, so if you can send a question via eBay in USA or Canada he might tell you the process. E-mail me if you are successful




fotoman70 said:


> Hello All - I am a newbe to the wood stove world I am trying to remove the enamel factory paint from my Vermont Castings Intrepid down to the cast iron so i can repaint with new color. the stove had chips down to the cast iron in various areas. My local sandblasting shop could not get the enamel off the stove and could only get the color off, but now I have an off white porcelan like material left and the stove is not down to the cast iron. I have the stove in pieces to ease up sandblasting.
> so here are my questions
> 1. What can I do to remove paint and enamel from stove to expose the cast iron
> 2. What primer would you use to make for a base coat
> ...


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## amac65scot (Jul 10, 2012)

*exact ebay reference: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vermont-Castings-Intrepid-II-Cat-Wood*

Vermont Castings Intrepid II Cat Wood Stove PU or Ship. MASS | eBay



amac65scot said:


> I am looking to do the same for the exact model.
> 
> I say that this is clearly possible because if you go to eBay and type in the following, there is someone selling vermont stoves that were originally enamelled. How it is done I do not know as I cannot send a message, presumable because I am in the UK.
> 
> ...


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## Somesawguy (Jul 10, 2012)

I would guess that those stoves were sold without enamel. I didn't see anywhere in the ad that it had been removed.


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## amac65scot (Jul 11, 2012)

The ad reads "Please note the exterior of the stove was originally Almond enamel finish which has significant chipped mostly on the top and upper front. It has been thoroughly cleaned and sanded and refinished with black high heat stove paint."



Somesawguy said:


> I would guess that those stoves were sold without enamel. I didn't see anywhere in the ad that it had been removed.


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## amac65scot (Jul 11, 2012)

Here is the link

Vermont Castings Resolute Wood Stove pick-up or ship,MA | eBay

This was the particular ad
Vermont Castings Resolute Wood Stove pick-up or ship,MA

You'll notice he has a lot of these from Vermont Castings, and the majority of their sales (and I mean majority were enamelled).




amac65scot said:


> The ad reads "Please note the exterior of the stove was originally Almond enamel finish which has significant chipped mostly on the top and upper front. It has been thoroughly cleaned and sanded and refinished with black high heat stove paint."


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## amac65scot (Jul 11, 2012)

Finally, here is a method from another forum

In response to inquiries about restoring old wood burning stoves I will share the following process. I have over the years restored several stoves in fact I am working on one now. The process is straight forward and anyone can do most of it. Some steps you will need to get help with but your cost will be greatly reduced if you do all you can yourself.

#1 Disassemble the stove. Remove the rivets with a air chisel [Adv. air chisel [linked by editor to product info at Amazon]].
#2 Bead blast the parts clean, except those that have plating on them. You can buy an inexpensive blaster from Harbor Freight or similar place [Adv. Bead Blaster [linked by editor to product info at Amazon]].
#3 Take the plated parts to a local plater and have them stripped, polished and replated.
#4 Paint the remaining parts with a high temperature paint [Adv. high temperature paint [linked by editor to product info at Amazon]], if you intend to use the stove. If not, then any enamel paint will work.
#5 Reassemble the stove with bolts. You can get the bolts at your local hardware store.



amac65scot said:


> The ad reads "Please note the exterior of the stove was originally Almond enamel finish which has significant chipped mostly on the top and upper front. It has been thoroughly cleaned and sanded and refinished with black high heat stove paint."


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## sunfish (Jul 11, 2012)

There is no way I'd try to remove enamel porcelain platting!

Just clean real good and paint with high temp stove paint.


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