Wagner HT-1000 Heat Gun

It's the Last Stripper I'll Ever Pay For!

House paint serves more than decorative functions, it's also the homeowner's front-line defender against moisture. That's why many older houses (like our 1895 Queen Anne) are covered in multiple layers of the stuff. When I had to do some window window repair on the dignified old gal, I remembered once more why the owners of historic houses speak "previous owner" as a profanity. Because of a few rotten spots in the window frames we cleaned everything down to bare wood before proceeding. Yep, more than a century's worth of paint; oil-based or latex; leaded or lead-free; green, white, red, brown, tan... they overmatched every chemical stripper we could find. That was before I wandered into the little hardware store on the corner and found a Wagner HT1000 Heat Gun. I may never buy a paint stripper again.

Wooster 11 in. Plastic Tray Liner

Cleanup After Finish Jobs is a Joy with Wooster Paint Tray Liners (Well, Almost)


The world of do-it-yourselfers separates into two schools: some finish and hate to build, the rest build and hate to finish. I'm a member of school number 2: I will gladly make sawdust all day long, but when it comes time for finishing, I’m perfectly happy to leave it to someone else. Makes no difference whether it's paint, varnish, stain, shellac. Me no likey. On the other hand, my wife belongs to school one, the finishers. We have a match made in Heaven.


Every once in while, I still get stuck wielding brush or roller. When that happens, I reach for a paint tray and add in a Wooster Tray Liner. If there’s anything thing I hate more than finishing, it’s cleaning up afterwards; paint tray liners cut that chore down to size.