I'm set and ready to do some paint stripping; plastic laid out, chairs atop, gloves and scrappers ready, but when I went to begin... I found I couldn't open the stupid can!!!!! :yikes: :o

There's a red cap. On the cap there's a diagram that suggests I push in the small tab that sticks out while I turn it counterclockwise. My friend said I had to push down like a medicine bottle to make the grey ring below the cap to catch so it wouldn't go round and round. Nothing.

Please help! :confused:


http://www.swingpaints.com/1800.htm

It looks like Brasso, which I used to use occasionally. Its a real pain to open it. I'd squeeze the sides of the lid together (squeeze really hard), turn the lid about 90º and then use a tool (screwdriver works well) to pop the lid off.

They changed the cap from what the picture is. It's not longer a pop open type. I think I'm going to have to use two sets of pliers.

THANKS!

Crow: Last time I used the product, there was a strip of plastic that came off first when I pulled the tab. It's very difficult to remove by squeezing and turning though--you have to really pinch it hard.

UPDATE: Pliers and a nut cracker did the job!

Thanks Pure fiction for taking the time to answer this. :)

careful with that sh*t I opened a can that had swollen and when it opened it blasted some in my eyeball....not cool...

Nope: I used that stuff to strip a wall, and it really ate at my skin.

Thanks for the concerns, all is well though. My skin is still in tact and the seats of two chairs are stripped. Next will be the left sides. I'm pretty good with the dangerous stuff (carpenter's daughter), I've just never stripped anything before, since I usually start from scratch. It's kind of fun! :)

Nice when it comes off in great sheets, but I found that you have to work at it pretty quickly if the paint is tough, because the gel tends to coagulate again fairly quickly.

Two sides done, fron and back to go!

Macfury, I don't know how you did a whole wall with this stuff. You must have had the thicker version. As for it coagulating, I believe just a light spray of water will reactivate it. And yes, it is nice when large strips come off so smooth and clean. :D

I must have been writing when you wrote about the tab thing. If you're really supposed to pull that thing off, again, I think the average human would need pliers, not only because of the amount of leverage you'd need, but because of it's size as well!

Too bad there is no Lee Valley in Montréal

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=49550&cat=1,190,43040

Store locations:

http://www.leevalley.com/home/Stores.aspx?c=2

Dave :)