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Does anyone have any tips on how to approach this seemingly mucky and painstaking job or is there anyone who would do this commercially?
Removing tar from old woodblocks
- Thread starter AnonymousImport
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Quite expensive to buy but Nutool or Dewalt do a tool called a thicknesser. This is essentially a fixed plane and by putting the blocks through this machine (as long as the bit above the tongue is the same thickness on all the blocks) the bitument is planed off.
A little white spirit on the table now and again helps the blocks slide through.
A little white spirit on the table now and again helps the blocks slide through.
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You should be careful if using this method as the planer can become clogged up quickly as the heat of the planer melts the tar. The best way is to scrape the old tar off when cold with a sharp edge piece of metal but very time consuming
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the first thing i would try is to heat the tar with a heat gun and srape it off with a putty knife then i would use some cheap gin to remove the rest.
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I've got blocks with bitumen on the backs. I've tried the heat gun and it works Ok if the stuff is not too thick. If its thick then it melts and runs down the sides of the block creating more cleaning! But it is still slow - I've been managing about 20 blocks an hour i.e. 3hrs a sq yard and I've got 26 sq yards to do!
I've tried a metal scrapper - needs to be an old fashioned stiff blade, not the modern bendy ones. Much faster than the heat gun, I probably got up to 40-50 blocks an hour. Making wooden jigs to hold the blocks horizontally and vertically helps a lot. I now have cramp in my hand and aches in muscels I didn't know I had. Tomorrow I'm going out to buy a 'thicknesser' and some metal to make guides to support the blocks by the toungue and grooves. The day after I'm going out to buy new wooden blocks!
I've tried a metal scrapper - needs to be an old fashioned stiff blade, not the modern bendy ones. Much faster than the heat gun, I probably got up to 40-50 blocks an hour. Making wooden jigs to hold the blocks horizontally and vertically helps a lot. I now have cramp in my hand and aches in muscels I didn't know I had. Tomorrow I'm going out to buy a 'thicknesser' and some metal to make guides to support the blocks by the toungue and grooves. The day after I'm going out to buy new wooden blocks!
I have just cleaned 80 blocks in 20 mins. If it is summer, put them in the freezer, but if it is winter, outside will do. Then use a de-scaling gun with a compressor. This is a vibrating needle gun for removing rust. It cleans brittle cold tar off easily.
I cleaned off 60 sq metres using a sheet of 1/4 inch steel plate over a very hot fire (buring broken woodblocks). Lay the woodblock messy side down until the adesive melts then simply scrap it off. I had a couple of helpers one loading, one scrapping etc.
You can leave the bitumen on it's ok - I've used gripfill to stick the blocks down and it melts the bitumen and glues fantastically to roughed up tiled floor!
B
breezer
Gabs, please read forum rule 8
The post you resurrected is six years old (almost) Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2002
forum rules said:
The post you resurrected is six years old (almost) Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2002
And besides that, never leave bitumen on wood blocks! The gripfill will only attach to the bitumen not to the wood blocks (expensive way to glue a floor down anyway)
Hows it going Breezer?
Long time no see.
Long time no see.
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