22 year old trying to fix up my great-grandparents home built in 1910 with what money I have. The door and wood frame have been painted an ugly brown since 1976. I’ve been stripping paint for the past 3 days and am looking for tips on how to remove the last residual gunk. So far I’ve used:

3 thick coats of Citristrip
Plastic putty scrapers
Plastic scrub brushes
Wiping down with paint thinner
I have sanding blocks but don’t think I’m at that point yet.

5 questions:
\-How do I remove the residual paint gunk effectively?

\-What are better ways to get into the tiny detailed parts of the wood?

\-Is it even worth it to try and get it to a point where I can stain and seal the wood or should I just repaint it? Not sure if it’s even in good enough condition.

\-There’s this crumbly cement(?) That is falling out between the nice woodwork and the actual door frame. (See last photo) How do I repair this?

\-What is the best way to seal the wood so it stays in good condition? I live in nyc so harsh winters and hot summers.

I bought this off a guy who was getting rid of a bunch of scrap metal. It was covered in decades of rust.

If anyone is into ASMR-style restorations and wants to see the mechanical details, I actually filmed the whole process. You can find it on YouTube by searching "Incredible Restoration of a RUSTY 1960s Drill Press (ASMR)". Would love to hear your feedback or any tips for future projects!

https://youtu.be/zMRhhwCM84c

Hello;

I'm currently restoring a 2000 GMC safari that has a lot of custom wood inserts I was hoping to replace with new ones, and a few panels/interior pieces I wanted to replace, namely the upper dash. The lower one that holds the radio, a/c, etc al., can be replaced with an aftermarket, but the top one cannot, and I was hoping to replace it with some high quality plywood of the same kind I was going to place around the van.

My 2 questions are (if anyone can help me); how could I kerf cut something with multiple bends and corners? Is it possible to kerf cut from one sheet of plywood or would I need multiple and then attach them later?

And since its the upper dash and will be getting a lot of sun exposure, how would I keepnit from delaminating? I can put a dash cover on and a sun visor when parked, but I'd like it to be visible since it'd match the rest of the wood in the car. Is there an exterior grade, UV resistant stain that could fit the bill?

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Was immensely lucky to score this ultra rare model in a charity shop for £20, beyond thrilled with it, but I just want to fix it. To my knowledge there are six breaks, the only one which significantly concerns me is the lack of an eye at the top. I've never attempted any form of model restoration before, so I was hoping you might have some advice on how to fix it. I'm not looking to protect its resale value, just to make it look even nicer than it already does. Photos 8 and 9 are of a random mint copy i found on ebay. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Got a used backpack made by one of my favorite manufacturers, Defy.

It's an old model made out of an oddball material, recycled m35 military tarp, used as the rear covering for military transport trucks.

I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to bring some life back to it and soften those scratches.

I'm considering treating it like car vinyl and trying some detailing/ restoration products, I've used 303 products in the past on my cars and had good results.

But if anyone has ideas or first hand experience with the material it would be greatly appreciated.

I want to lower the mushrooming without getting rid of what remains of the bluegrass stamping.
And oh my god why did it have to be a bluegrass 😫

Hi guys,

The main body of this book I am reading is starting to come off the spine. Obvs it’s not too bad at the moment but it’s one of my favourite books so I’m hoping to prevent it becoming any worse. Idk how to use do the fixes I have seen online such as gluing and compressing given the gap is too small to put glue in (I’m not a craftsman, if there are any techniques I could use please let me know).

Thank you for your help!

Hi, I’d like to ask how I can hide these cuts. I’ve already taped them up (I’ve never done anything like this before). Could you suggest a way to conceal them? It’s a painting from the 70s—I really don’t want to put it away in the closet, but the cuts are a real eyesore. Any ideas or suggestions?

I have those shelves with a dark laminate finish, i would like to go with a more light brown color and finish the edges properly because the carpenter who did the job did it very lousy. What is the best DIY to do that, is it even possible?

You will be saving my life with a solution. Thanks in advance.

I started watching the channel because the host came across as earnest and sincere in his goal to restore a house that's been in his family for generations, dating back to when it was built in 1895.

It's been about a year now, though, and I'm starting to wonder what I'm watching.

He starts projects, but very few seem to actually get finished. For example, he power-washed the bottom half of the house months ago. It's still sitting there with the top half untouched.

A lot of episodes also seem to focus on things that aren't really related to restoring the house: touring other abandoned homes and outbuildings on the property, exploring a creek, working on a garden he created, and various other projects around the property.

He also has a wishlist and drops some not-so-subtle hints about donations of expensive equipment, including things like excavators. I have no problem with a creator asking viewers for help with tools or equipment. But it starts to feel odd when the restoration projects themselves don't seem to be moving forward while there's a steady stream of content about other things.

Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe there are things happening off-camera, or maybe restoring a 130-year-old house is simply much slower and more complicated than it appears.

But I have to admit that my enjoyment of the early videos has gradually turned into some suspicion that the channel may be more focused on producing content than actually completing the restoration.

And I genuinely hope I'm wrong. When I first found the channel, I thought, what a great thing for a young person to take on—to preserve a piece of his family's history. I'd really like that to be what this is.

I'm trying to recreate this design on the insert of a Victorian era trunk (1880s likely). I don't know if it's original, but I really like it. I'm not sure the best way of doing this. I'm sure there are multiple options, but I definitely would appreciate any advice or insights.

I know the pale green was a handmade cloth-paper covering, most likely dyed with a vegetable dye (several options, not sure of the exact base). The little star-like decorations were probably a carved stamp, also vegetable dye (definitely from beets). That info comes from an expert in cloth and dye, especially non-synthetic and historical. Because of this I can obtain similar cloth-paper and appropriate dye.

The border pieces are not the same material and I'm guessing produced commercially. I'm also guessing it was added later. I do like the style and might consider using something similar in different areas of the trunk.

Hello so I took my ADD meds and I'm doing a deep clean of my trashcan. The problem is I can't stop until It looks as good as possible. So does anyone have any ideas on how I can make it look better or do I just have to deal with it? I don't really care about it being perfect I just want it to look nice so all advice is welcome, thank you.

This is a side cover on my motorcycle and I was using a dremel polishing kit but seems like it was way too abrasive. I would like some suggestions on correcting it before I dig myself into a hole.

As you can see, theres very obvious scratches