Out With The Old, In With The New!!!

Gutting the area so we can re-configure

We have a major 're-modeling' project going on at the shop right now that we are very excited about. For years we have been using an extremely fast stripping system that worked very well.  Unfortunately, all kinds of safety measures and environmental health procedures went along with it.   It was a Methelyn Chloride system which you can see in use in the second picture. While this chemical is highly effective,  it required us to instal fancy water recycling systems, and to have the waste specially taken care of, so as not to harm the environment.  We also had to take personal safety precautions so that we did not get chemical burns.  A yellow hazmat suit,  thick rubber apron, face shield, two layers of gloves and boots were worn while working in the area.  We also had to create a plastic wall separating the main strip area from the rest of the room so that the chemicals would not splash onto any other projects we had going on, or harm any passing employees.

 

We are switching to a new Water Based stripping system which is much less harmful to the person using it, and to the environment.  The new water based stripping chemicals have been a long time coming and we are so excited to be making the switch.  The technology has just become available this year, and we were actually able to work directly with the chemist to formulate  something that fits our needs.  So far we are the very first company to be putting this to work for wood stripping.  

Because this is such new technology, we are actually working with a metal fabrication company to custom design the new tanks that will be needed, to work with the water based stripper.  We are going to be able to get rid of the two tanks pictured above, which are not as efficient as we would like.  The new tank is huge and measures 16' x 4.5'  so we will now be able to strip very large objects with much more ease then before.